The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has said since the launch Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) in 2014, a total of 4,327 urban local bodies have been declared open defecation-free (ODF) in the country.
A total of 1,319 cities have been certified as ODF+ (Open Defecation Free Plus) and 489 cities have been certified ODF++ (Open Defecation Free Plus Plus) in the country so far, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in his addressing an event through video conference.
ODF+ and ODF++ are aimed towards proper maintenance of toilet facilities and safe collection and disposal.
While ODF+ focuses on toilets with water, maintenance and hygiene, ODF++ focuses on toilets with sludge and septage management.
To ensure accessible of public sanitation facility to every citizen, the government has mapped over 59,900 public toilet blocks across 2,900+ cities which are searchable today on Google Maps till the date.
So far over 62 lakh individual household toilets and over 5.9 lakh community/ public toilets have been constructed, the Minister said.