All urban bodies in Rajasthan declared ODF

The urban area of Rajasthan has been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) on Thursday. All the 191 urban local bodies of the state became ODF. The data of Mount Abu local body was uploaded on the website of Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) on Thursday and along with urban Rajasthan became ODF.

There are 191 urban bodies in the state. The 188 urban bodies of the state had been declared as ODF last month. The remaining three urban bodies also became ODF. Now after the third party inspection of the Central Government, the ODF certificate will be issued. The Local Self Government (LSG) Department has constructed 3.93 lakh toilets in urban areas under SBM, which was launched on 2nd October 2014.

The construction of toilets is based on a baseline survey of 2012. Union government had praised the state government efforts. Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, who had been reviewing the central schemes last month, praised the state government. As of March 16, 188 cities of 191 cities of the state had become ODF. With the efforts of the LSG Department, the remaining three cities were also declared as ODF.

The Central Government already has issued the certificate of ODF to 88 cities in the state. “The state has become ODF in all urban areas this evening. all 191 ULBs have been declared open defecation free and uploaded the data on SBM portal of Govt. of India. It’s a matter of pride for us,” said Pawan Arora, Director of Local Bodies and SBM.

source: DNA India