K'taka among top 5 states in building public toilets

 Karnataka ranks among the top five states that have taken a lead in building community and public toilet seats under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project, the Swachh Bharat Mission.

Delhi has built the highest number of community and public toilet seats, while Gujarat tops in building individual household toilets.

Implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission in urban areas of the country has picked up momentum during the first three months of the current financial year, an official statement said.

Delhi has completed construction of as many as 5,776 community and public toilet seats since the launch of the mission in October last year, followed by Chhattisgarh (3,570), Maharashtra (2,520), Chandigarh (2,424) and Karnataka (1,680).

The government aims to build over five lakh community and public toilet seats under the mission and the Urban Development Ministry has sanctioned 82,438 so far.

As regards household toilets, Gujarat has 2,64,331 such facilities, followed by Madhya Pradesh (99,151). These two states together account for 94 per cent of the total 3.83 lakh individual household toilets built under the scheme so far, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra.

Community toilets

Under the mission in urban areas, 17,411 community and public toilet seats have been constructed during April-June 2015 as against 1,222 built during October-March of the last financial year. In the first quarter of the current financial year, 1.13 lakh individual household toilets have been built under the scheme.

The Urban Development Ministry has been regularly monitoring the programme having held three video conferences with states and union territories last month.