65 lakh families lack access to toilets in Odisha

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, May 8:

As many as 65 lakh families of Odisha do not have a toilet in their homes, said Rural Development Minister Badri Narayan Patra replying to a question of Rourkela MLA Dilip Ray yesterday.

According to a baseline survey conducted by Orissa State Water & Sanitation Mission in 2013, out of the 90,20,107 families of the state, only 24,98,884 families had toilets in their homes. Whopping 65,21,223 families do not have access to toilets, the Minister added citing statistics.

While Kalahandi district has the lowest percentage of households that have access to toilets with only 11.70 percent, Deogarh district scores best with 98.25 percent households having access.

Balasore comes a distant second with 54 percent households having toilets, Gajapati stands third with 49 percent, and Jharsuguda has 46 percent.

The districts that have toilets in 30 to 40 percent rural households are: Bargarh, Jagatsinghpur, Khurda, Nuapada and Sundargarh. Districts with 20 to 30 penetration are: Angul, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Kandhamal, Kendrapara, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Nabarangpur, Nayagarh, Puri, Sambalpur and Sonepur.

Bolangir, Boudh, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Keonjhar, Koraput and Rayagada districts have toilets in less than 20 percent of rural households, said the Minister.

While 72 percent of the state population are yet to have access to toilets, the State and the Union Government are trying to facilitate toilets under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

“We are trying to facilitate toilets to all the families of the state by October 2019. The families are being given Rs 12,000 each to build them. While the Central Government bears Rs 7,200, the State Government pays the remaining Rs 4,800,” said Patra.