Govt to build 2 crore toilets by 2019: CM

PATNA: Backing PM Narendra Modi’s stand on cleanliness, Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi on Wednesday said more than 2 crore toilets will be constructed in the state by 2019. He said the state can get rid of dirt and filth if 11 crore Biharis resolve to do so. Manjhi said it is the poor and downtrodden who fall victim to diseases caused due to living in unhygienic condition.
Urging the elected representatives and members of self-help groups (SHGs) to facilitate the construction of toilets, the CM said they should construct a minimum of five toilets annually, besides ensuring one for their own houses. He said funds would not be a constraint even if the Union government failed to release it. He said if needed, the state government would curtail its expenses on other schemes to fund the construction of toilets. Holding the absence of toilets in houses responsible for several crimes against women, Manjhi said several women could be saved from undergoing attacks if they do not have to go out for attending the call of nature.
Manjhi, quoting Mahatma Gandhi, called for socio-educational liberation of the poor and said Bapu visualized a clean and developed India. If people construct and use toilets besides keeping them clean, he said, they could avoid a plethora of diseases. The CM was addressing SHG members at a programme organized to mark World Toilet Day on Wednesday. He was accompanied by ministers and officials of rural development, panchayati raj and public health engineering departments.
Speaking earlier, principal secretary, panchayati raj department, Shashi Shekhar Sharma said it had been found that there were as many as APL (above poverty line) families without toilets at their homes as the BPL (below poverty line) families.
State rural development minister Nitish Mishra said, “ We (the Biharis) need to realize the importance of toilets and the benefits of their use, without which the state government can’t succeed in attaining the ‘zero-open defecation’ here.