MCC hopes to make Mysuru open defecation-free by 2018

In a move to make the city open defecation-free, the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has launched a resurvey to identify houses without toilets.

The MCC has roped in city-based NGO Centre for Rural Education Development and Innovative Technologies of India (CREDIT-I) to conduct the survey.

 MCC officials claim that the resurvey is aimed at ascertaining the number of houses that lack toilet facilities. As part of the Swachh Bharat Mission, the city is aiming at being declared open-defecation-free by 2018, the authorities said.

According to CREDIT-I managing trustee M P Varsha, as many as 300 residents have claimed that they have no toilets in their houses and have requested authorities to provide the facility. However, the exact number is yet to be ascertained. Varsha said the survey would give a clear picture of the exact number as he felt that a few people would have applied despite having toilets.

He said such applicants might have applied for another facility as the existing ones would have been in a dilapidated state. However, taking into the account of the families which have not applied despite lacking the facility, Varsha foresees that nearly 400 houses have no toilets.

Varsha said that volunteers have been visiting houses from April 4 to collect details about toilet facilities. He said that houses in semi-developed areas did not have toilets due to space constraints.

“The resurvey will be carried out in all 65 wards in the city. It will include houses without individual toilets and open defecation spots. The volunteers, along with people’s representatives and officials of the respective wards, will visit houses without toilets and collect relevant information to submit it to the MCC,” Varsha said.

According to MCC officials, construction of a toilet requires Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000. “The MCC will provide funds sanctioned by the Central and state governments. We will make efforts to construct toilets in houses that lack one by providing easy grants from the government. Based on the resurvey report, financial aid will be offered to the family for construction of toilets,” they said.

In 2011, MCC conducted an exclusive survey across the city to ascertain the number of houses lacking individual toilets. The authorities found that 425 houses lacked the facility. Though many houses had sufficient space to construct toilets, the family members were unable to build toilets due to financial constraints and thus the government had extended financial support.