South 24 Pgns becomes 6th district to be declared ODF

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday declared South 24 Parganas as an Open Defecation Free district.

At a function on Monday afternoon she handed over the certificate declaring the district as ODF district to the District Magistrate Y Ratnakar Rao and Sabadhipati of the Zilla Parishad Shamima Sheikh. After the announcement, South 24 Parganas became the state's sixth ODF district. It may be mentioned that Nadia became the country's first ODF district. The five other ODF districts are North 24 Parganas, Hooghly, East Midnapore, Alipurduar, and South 24 Parganas.

It may be mentioned that South 24 Parganas has constructed 7.19 lakh toilets attached to the houses, which is highest in any district of the country so far. The construction of rural toilets in East and West Burdwan district has been completed and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will declare them as ODF districts soon. The construction of rural toilets in the remaining districts is going on in full swing and by March 2019 all the rural houses in Bengal will have toilets.

A senior state government official said that along with construction of rural toilets, a massive campaign is going on in order to create awareness among the villagers. "Unless the villagers learn to use the toilets, the situation will not improve and again open defecation will start," he said. Also, the villagers will have to be taught about toilet maintenance. "Constructing a toilet attached to houses is not a big deal but their maintenance is important. The state government will not provide any amount of funds for their maintenance but the villagers have to look after their toilets. These are small issues but they need to be addressed properly from the beginning," he said.

It was Subrata Mukherjee, minister for Panchayats and Rural development who at a meeting held in Nadia in 2012 urged all the District Magistrates to ensure that their districts become open defecation free much before the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.