A year and a half after the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission, five towns from Maharashtra and Telangana have been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) by an independent survey conducted by the Quality Council of India. The Urban development ministry targets to make 974 towns free from open defecation by next year.
Kagal, Panchgani, Vengurla, Murgud and Panhala in Maharashtra and Siddipet, Shadnaga, Suryapet, Achampet and Huzurnagar in Telangana have been certified Open Defecation Free towns.
A total of 141 towns in seven states have claimed to have become ODF including 100 in Maharashtra alone. All these claims are under verification. The report received by the ministry from the states, suggests that 974 towns will become ODF by next year. Besides the 10 towns certified so far, four towns from Gujarat are claiming ODF status including Gandhidham, Navsarai, Rapar and Mandavi.
Six other towns from Telangana including Gajwel, Ibrahimpatnam, Jagtiyal, Madhira, Sattupalli and Sircilla also aspire to make to the list. Ten towns in West Bengal are also claiming elimination of Open Defecation including Krishananagar, Nabadwip, Santipur and Kalyani. Other ODF claims are from Ambikapur, Dhamtari and Ambagarh Chowki in Chattisgarh, Dungarpur in Rajasthan and Mairang and Kakching in Manipur.
The progress of the mission is constantly been monitored by urban development ministry. As per the Protocol for third party verification and certification of ODF status- each Ward and City first self-declares as ODF and on intimation of the same by the respective Urban Local Body or State, the Ministry gets such claims verified in 30 days by the third party.
[Source:-DNA]
