BHUBANESWAR: The State Government is likely to miss the deadline set by the Centre on toilet construction under the Swachh Bharat Mission.
The Centre had asked all States to cover all households with toilets by October 2, 2019. But official sources maintained that only 13.789 lakh toilets have been constructed in rural areas of the State during the last three years. As many as 75 lakh houses in Odisha including 67.21 lakh houses in rural areas do not have toilets.
Under the scheme, the Centre provides Rs 12,000 for construction of toilet in each house. If the State Government fails to meet the deadline, it has to bear all the expenses.
Replying to a question in the Budget session of the Assembly, Rural Development Minister Badri Narayan Patra said of 90,20,100 houses in rural areas of the State, only 22,48,568 houses have toilet facilities. He said a target has been set to provide toilets to all houses by 2019.
Official sources maintained that 33,759 toilets were constructed in 2013-14 while in 2014-15, 1,30,925 toilets were constructed. Over 11.36 lakh toilets were constructed in 2015-16. Highest number of 93,498 toilets was constructed in Balasore district followed by 76,501 in Mayurbhanj, 70,994 in Ganjam, 67,932 in Sundargarh, 66,193 in Bhadrak and 64,185 in Angul. The lowest 8674 toilets were constructed in Boudh district during the period.
The State Government had made a provision of Rs 85 crore in 2014-15 for construction of toilets of which the Central contribution was Rs 22.54 crore under the Swachh Bharat Mission. However, provision under the scheme increased to Rs 828 crore in 2015-16 with Central contribution of Rs 493.86 crore.
Sources said the State Government has taken assistance of self help groups (SHGs) for implementation of the scheme.