Massive drive under way to make Nellore 100% ODF

Overcoming hurdles involved in the process, the district administration is leaving no stone unturned to make Nellore district 100% open defecation free (ODF) by the end of March.

There are nearly 236 villages still to be covered under this programme with the officials having drawn plans to mobilise all the necessary men and material to complete the task in the next five weeks.

As of now, nearly 700 of the 936 villages have been declared ODF as individual household latrines (IHHLs) were constructed in the houses of the beneficiaries by providing Rs. 15,000 subsidy from the side of the government.

A massive drive was taken up recently at the instance of Collector R. Mutyala Raju considering the fact that this programme named ‘Atmagauravam’ in Andhra Pradesh had assumed higher significance in the context of the rural sanitation and ‘Swachh Bharath’.

As per an estimate, there were 5.67 lakh households in the 936 village panchayats in the district. Of these households, it was found out that the toilets under the Atmagauravam would be needed for 3.24 lakh households, who had no latrine facility. As many as 2.21 lakh households were now covered under the scheme while another 50,000 households had constructed latrines prior to its commencement.

“We now have to focus on constructing nearly 50,000 toilets in the next few weeks. This will help achieve the 100% ODF status in the district and we are confident of achieving this,” said R.V. Krishna Reddy, superintending engineer, Rural Water Supply.

Issues in usage

He said there were many problems in making sure that the residents had made proper use of the toilets and this societal awareness would be taken up with a greater emphasis in the second phase of the programme.

His observations came in the light of the fact that in many rural households, the newly constructed toilets were not being used to serve the intended purpose but the inmates were turning them into either bathrooms or store rooms.

In some cases, the residents were preferring use of the toilet facility together with bathrooms in the combined format.

The officials are now involving the people’s representatives as part of the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) programme.

With active involvement of sarpanches and local employees, the sanitation programme in the district is expected to yield better results in future.