Five blocks of East Singhbhum to be made ODF by 2017

Jamshedpur, April 23: Five blocks of East Singhbhum district will be made Open defecation free (ODF) in the year 2017-18.

The state government has given a target to the district administration to make Baharagora, Dumaria, Dhalbhumgarh, Ghatsila and Gudabandha block ODF.

To have the action plan ready a meeting was held on Sunday which headed by DDC Suraj Kumar were discussions were held on preparations for making the blocks ODF. During the meeting DDC also reviewed the targets and the achievements of the financial year which ended on March 31.

Significantly, the state government had given a target to the district administration to make Potka, Patamda, Bodam and Musabani open defecation free in the year 2016-17.

Of which all the panchayats of Potka and Patamda have been made ODF. On paper these two block have been made ODF. Above poverty line (APL) category toilets have been constructed in these blocks but the matter got stuck when there was absence of BPL category toilets.

There are no toilets but the drinking water and sanitation department had constructed it a few years back. The toilets have been made on paper but in reality there are no toilets present. This is the reason these blocks are not been declared ODF as BPL category toilets are posing technical hindrance.

The same issue is in Musabani and Bodam. The district administration will now have to construct the toilets through another source then only these four toilets can be made ODF.

Last year the toilet construction target was 53 thousand but the drinking water and sanitation department has only constructed 30 thousand toilets.

DDC ordered to speed up the toilet construction work. Present during the meeting were executive engineer Mantosh Mani, assistant engineer and district coordinator.