Only ahead of Odhisa, Bihar; 54 percent households without toilets

Even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party was able to make inroads into Jammu and Kashmir, but his much talked about Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has found few takers in the state with JK government failing to utilize funds meant for the program despite the state ranked 3rd worst on sanitation standards.

As per Baseline Survey of Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Jammu and Kashmir is among the worst states with poor sanitation. The report says that out of 20.5 million households in the state more than 54 percent are without toilets. The survey states that JK is only ahead of Odhisa and Bihar.

As per the data, Jammu and Kashmir has 20.5 lakh households of which only 46 percent have toilets within premises. It states that the situation is “worse in rural areas due to failure of the government to initiate measures,” adding that lack of toilets is resulting in outbreak of diseases.

Despite the grim situation, sources reveal that JK government has failed to utilize funds allocated by centre government for sanitation programs which include construction of toilets.

“Out of Rs 121 crore meant for sanitation program JK government utilized only 5 percent i.e around Rs 6 crore during 2014-15,” said an official here.

United Nations observes November 19 every year as World Toilet Day. The aim is to raise awareness about the people in the world who don’t have access to a toilet, despite the fact that it is a human right to have clean water and sanitation.

“2.4 billion people do not have adequate sanitation. 1 billion people still defecate in the open. Poor sanitation increases the risk of disease and malnutrition, especially for women and children. Women and girls risk rape and abuse, because they have no toilet that offers privacy,” UN report states.

As per a report by the Department of School Education and Literacy (DISE), Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, out of 23,234 schools in JK, 14,116 schools are without toilet facility.

As per the report the number of schools without toilet facility for girls is 6294 while the schools for boys without toilet facility are 7822.

It mentions that schools having dysfunctional girls’ and boys’ toilets are 2797 and 2553 respectively.

J&K figures at the 4th rank among the Indian states where a majority of government schools have either no toilets or dysfunctional toilets. Meghalaya (94 percent), Arunachal Pradesh, (80 percent) and Telangana (77 percent) are the three states which have fared worse than J&K when it comes to government schools without toilets.

At least fourteen police stations, 48 police posts in J&K are without toilets while 23 police stations and 49 posts do not have any drinking water facility.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a national campaign by the Government of India, covering 4,041 cities and towns. The campaign was launched on October 2, 2014 at Rajghat, New Delhi, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleaned the road. The objectives of this program is elimination of open defecation, conversion of unsanitary toilets to pour flush toilets (a type of pit latrine, usually connected to two pits), eradication of manual scavenging besides other sanitation related measures.