The five South Indian states have made a remarkable progress in their efforts to end the practice of open defecation on their respective territories through the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC).
Since the TSC’s inception in 1999, as many as 2.46 crore toilets were built in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Odisha.
Now called the Nirmal Bharat Yatra (NBA), the TSC has strived to make open defecation a thing of the past in a country where a staggering 62 crore people do not have access to toilets.
The top priority accorded to the programme could be gauged from the fact that the Centre has increased the budgetary allocation for NBA from `1500 crore in 2011-12 to `3500 crore in 2012-13.
According to data from the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, which is available with the Express, out of the total 2.46 crore toilets added in the South Indian states since 1999, over 70,56,703 had been built in Tamil Nadu till June 2012.
Out of these, 69,83,199 are individual household latrines , 1,726 are community sanitary complexes , 46,062 are school toilet units and 25,716 are anganwadi toilets.
A total of 81,96,510 toilets were constructed under TSC in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. Of these, 80,755,08 are individual household latrines, 962 fall in the category of community sanitary complexes, 112308 are school toilet units and 7732 are aanganwadi toilets.
In Kerala, 11,30, 161 toilets were constructed ,with the break up being 11,20,749 individual household latrines, 1,003 community sanitary complexes, 3,690 school toilet units and 4,719 aanganwadi toilets.
And 42,68,646 toilets were constructed in Karnataka. Out of these, 419,75,42 are individual household latrines, 861 are community sanitary complexes, 42036 are school toilet units and 28,207 are aanganwadi toilets.
In Odisha, a total of 40, 09,644 toilets were built under the scheme. 391,47,431 of these are individual household latrines, 116 are community sanitary complexes, 69,961 are school toilets units and 24,824 are aanganwadi toilets.