Udhampur, May 4: In a bid to make her village open-defecation free, an 87-year-old woman from Udhampur has set an example for people of India by engaging herself in making a toilet near her house. The old woman said she is happy that more people are taking a step forward to build toilets in their houses. “I'm happy that more & more people are coming forward now to build toilets in their houses”, the woman was quoted by ANI.

Earlier this year, the government had informed the Lok Sabha that till date 11 states and union territories (UTs) have been declared open defecation free (ODF) under Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), the Centres flagship programme. The 11 states/UTs include Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Gujarat, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Meghalaya had been declared ODF.

The minister of state of Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi in February had said that the government is taking various steps under the SBM to make all states in the country ODF. Replying to another question on the process through which a village is declared ODF, the government said that a comprehensive community-led decision-making process is taken for the declaration of ODF.

"In the first step, villages themselves declare ODF in the general meeting. Within 3 months of ODF declaration, State/UT conduct verification using different process. ODF sustainability verification, which primarily focuses on toilet usage is also conducted after a period of 270 days", Jigajinagi informed.

In Maharashtra, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in April had declared rural areas of the state open defecation-free (ODF) and claimed the state has constructed the highest number of toilets in the country. Fadnavis had said, "In a period of just three and a half years, we have made available toilets to 55 per cent of the homes that did not have toilets. This exercise of constructing toilets spanned 34 districts, 351 talukas, 21,000 gram panchayats and 40,500 villages. Almost all homes (in rural parts) have access to toilets now".

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 04, 2018 08:48 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).