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| Rs 107.13 Cr, PM Modi's Swachh Bharat drive fails in JK | | | Ishtiyaq Ahmad
Early Times Report
Srinagar, July 26: Despite having received Rs 107.13 crore from Government of India for implementation of Prime Minister's much-hyped sanitation program "Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA)", the State has largely failed to fully implement it.
Sources said that except a few districts, the state has done little to mitigate health threats from improper sanitary facilities in households, hospitals and educational institutes.
"Though an amount of Rs. 107.13 Crore has been received by the state government from Government of India for implementation of " Swachh Bharat Abhiyan since its inception on 2nd October-2014 in the state, the government has so far failed in meeting the objectives of the sanitation," said an official.
He said the state constructed 42,239 individual household toilets during 2014-2015 against the annual target of 0.3 million, a shortfall of 86 per cent. "The data shows the state never completed its annual objectives in construction of household, hospitals and school toilets," the official maintained.
According to the sources three districts, Anantnag, Kargil and Leh, so far has done better in household and school toilet construction.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi had awarded the district Anantnag for excellence to implement the Swachh Bharat Mission. "Modi on 20 April, 2016 awarded District administration of Anantnag for constructing separate toilets for boys and girls in 1,500 schools.
Sources said the state had also lagged behind in the implementation of the National Rural Drinking Water Programme, with Rs 310.15 crore unspent in 2014-2015.
According to the data, More than 71 per cent of schools have no wash-basins or taps available near toilets and 9.18 per cent schools have no drinking water.
When contacted the authorities in Housing and Urban department, said that though they have conducted sanitation drives at hospitals, schools and shrines, a lot more still needs to be done for effective implementation of the Swachh Bharat campaign.
"Government is in the process to start a comprehensive program so that the mission is completed," one of the top official of the Housing department said.
Asked about the criteria adopted for the distribution of funds amongst the various districts, the official maintained that criteria for the distribution of funds is population of the district and the districts further distribute it accordingly to the population of the constituency.
According to the DISE survey, 6,351 JK schools in JK lack toilets for girls and 8,098 lack toilets for boys and more than 71% of schools have no basins or taps to wash hands near toilets and urinals.
The experts said that sanitation facilities in the state are very poor, and this is not only limited to villages. "The situation is similar in cities and healthcare institutions as well. Hepatitis A and diarrhoea, particularly in children, caused by rotavirus are common among patients where sanitary facilities are poor." One of the senior doctors of SMHS said on condition of anonymity.
On 15th August 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Swacch Vidyalaya Abhiyan, the Clean Schools Movement and promised to build separate toilets for boys and girls at schools nationwide within a year.
Sources said that even after several campaigns launched by the Jammu and Srinagar Municipal Corporations under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA), both the cities presents a "dirty look" as failure of the municipal bodies.
Sources said that the hype and photo sessions during the campaigns launched have failed to make an impact on ground.
According to the sources Jammu city generates 400 tonnes of solid waste daily and half of it is not lifted due to manpower shortage and in the absence of suitable dumping ground. Further there is no regular removal of solid waste generated by eateries and restaurants spread across the city.
Sources said similarly in Srinagar on an average 400 metric tons of solid garbage is produced per day and most of it is not lifted.
Meanwhile sources said that the municipal bodies have failed to furnish the complete records for the true assessment of implementation of program.
There are two Municipal Corporations (one each in Srinagar and Jammu), besides six Municipal Councils and 72 Municipal Committees in the state.
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