Jharkhand foundation day: Chief minister to declare state ODF today

Ranchi

Chief minister Raghubar Das would declare Jharkhand open defecation free (ODF) on its 18th statehood day on Thursday, officials said on Wednesday. The state has achieved its target a year ahead of the ODF deadline.

During the State Foundation Day celebration at Morabadi, he will also declared three more districts — Deoghar, Hazaribag, and Lohardaga — fully electrified. The state government had earlier said four districts — Ranchi, Ramgarh, Bokaro, and Dhanbad — had achieved the 100% electrification target. Das have repeatedly promised that every household must get power by the end of 2018.

The state has constructed of more than 33 lakh toilets in rural Jharkhand against the requirement of 40 lakh in the past four years.

On October 2, 2017, the Jharkhand government declared its civic bodies, including that of Ranchi, ODF by building more than 2.10 lakh toilets against the target of 2.09 lakh.

State Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) director Amit Kumar said, “Toilet coverage in Jharkhand was around 16% till 2012. According to the baseline survey 2012, there were 40,01,760, households in Jharkhand, while the number of toilets was 6,22,063. The situation was almost similar until Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced SBM in 2014.”

He said the Centre had set an October 2019 deadline to achieve the target under SBM. However, chief minister Raghubar Das wanted it to achieve by 2018. “With coordinated effort, the target has been achieved. As many as 9,28,591 toilets were built this financial year to achieve the feat,” Kumar said.

The highest number of toilets was built in Giridih (2,65,193), followed by Ranchi (2,37,336) and Palamu (2,21,444).

However, the path to making the state ODF was not without roadblocks. Bringing behavioral change among people was the biggest challenge, officials said.

“More than 70% of people were habituated to open defecation. Convincing and making them aware of the importance of toilets was a big task. Various resources were used to motivate people. Besides, we appointed officials, self-help groups, and activists to encourage people to use toilets,” Kumar said.

The mission director said after achieving the target, they focused on people who did not have toilets. “The beneficiaries, who were missing in the baseline survey, could claim for the Rs12,000 government compensation to build toilets,” he said.

A total of 20 states have been declared open defecation free.

Other likely announcements today

•The government is likely to lay the foundation of projects worth Rs 1,000 crore

• Rs 2,000 crore is expected to be distributed to people under Micro Units Refinance and Development Agency (Mudra) and other schemes

• Under the banner of Jharkhand Samman Samaroh, 10 people would be honoured for their outstanding contribution in various fields

•Under the Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society, the state is likely to give subsidy to women for poultry