4 more dists to be free of open defecation by Jan-end

By January end, four more districts in the state will be declared as open defecation free (ODF), Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister H K Patil said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Patil said that so far 16 districts have been declared ODF, and by the end of the month, Chikkaballapur, Mysuru, Koppal and Chamarajanagar districts too will attain the status.

He said that as Vijayapura, Raichur, Bidar, Yadgir and Kalaburagi were lagging behind in construction of toilets, the district authorities had been instructed to expedite the works.

Before the Congress party came to power, the progress of toilet construction works which was at 32%, had improved by 54% in the last four-and-a-half years, he said.

So far, around 37 lakh toilets have been constructed and 18 lakh are yet to be built.

"While the Centre's progress stands at 45.22%, Uttar Pradesh has met 56.4% of the works. Karnataka on the other hand has completed 86.18% of the works," he added.

Patil also said that as many as 1,107 villages in Kolar district had been declared ODF, as 75,000 toilets had been constructed in the last three days alone.