Rural TN close to achieving ODF status; 8.84L homes left

CHENNAI: Rural Tamil Nadu is inching towards becoming open defecation-free, with an official survey finding that only 7.12% households lacked individual toilets.

However, several thousands of individual household latrines (IHHLs) constructed in previous years have been converted into storage rooms.

The Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj conducted a survey, covering 1.24 crore households in 12,525 village panchayats in 37 districts (excluding Chennai). It found that 1.15 crore households have individual household latrines (IHHLs), accounting for 92.88%, while 8.84 lakh houses did not have toilets. Moreover, around 2 lakh IHHLs have been converted into storage facilities or left unused.

Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli and Tiruvarur districts top the list with more than 99% houses having IHHLs, while more than 25% of the houses in Pudukkottai did not have IHHLs.

“The survey aimed to identify shortcomings in implementing the Swachh Bharat mission and rectify them to achieve 100% ODF villages in TN. This fiscal year, the government has given nod to build 1.55 lakh toilets to bridge the gap,” said a senior official in the Department.

Of the 8.84 lakh houses that did not have IHHLs, 5.48 lakh did not have adequate space to construct or already benefited in the scheme. But they did not use the facility.

“Majority of them had converted the toilets into storage facilities and continue to practice open defecation. They account for around 20% in northern districts. But many are now coming forward to build toilets,” said an official.

He added that they have taken up the left out houses or houses that have damaged IHHLs to achieve their target.

Former panchayat president of Kattuputhur Chandrika Viswanathan, who received Nirmal Puruskar Award in 2005 from then President APJ Abdul Kalam, said that all the 459 households in their village have IHHLs.

“I am now conducting awareness programmes across TN to promote the clean village concept. Many villages have achieved cent percent overall sanitation status, ” said Viswanathan.