Government to construct over 2 crore toilets during next financial year

The government is targeting to construct two crore new toilets in the next financial year,  Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced today during his budget speech.  Speaking about the  ‘Swacch Bharat Mission’ (SBM), the Finance Minister said that already 6 crore toilets have been built as part of the mission.

Jaitley has allocated Rs. 22,356.6 crore for SBM, a 6.89 percent decrease from last year's allocation of Rs 24,011.18 crore.

Modi government began the Clean India Movement on 2^nd October 2014 to provide universal sanitation and improve hygiene of the citizens across country. Centre aims to make India open defecation free (ODF) by 2^nd October, 2019 to mark 150^th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

As per data provided by the government, 38.7 percent India had household toilets at the time of the initiative’s launch. The percentage now stands at 76.76 percent, building 6,01,47,140 toilets in rural India since 2014.

While 307 rural districts have been declared ODF, total villages covered are 3,13,313 spanning across 10 states.

For SBM-urban, 40,84,620 individual toilets have been constructed during three and a half years of the government. Number of ODF cities stand at 1,691.

Increased allocation for Swachh Bharat assumes importance as India has adopted United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to be achieved by 2030. Of the 17 goals adopted by India, sixth goal talks about ensuring aces to water and sanitation to all