Kerala has high toilet coverage of 97 per cent.

ore than 3,700 urban households in the district are without proper toilets.

While 2,540 households spread over 14 urban local bodies, including Kochi Corporation, have no toilets at all, 1,190 are insanitary toilets and need to be converted into sanitary ones as per a baseline survey undertaken for the 2015-16 fiscal.

In its maiden meeting held here on Tuesday, the newly constituted District Level Review and Monitoring Committee (DLRMC) chaired by K.V. Thomas, MP, for the implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) programmes, observed this to be a challenge to put an end to open defecation.

With Kerala eyeing to become open defecation-free State by the end of this March, these local bodies would have to really pull up their socks. Kerala has high toilet coverage of 97 per cent and the aim is now to cover the rest of the three per cent.

Corporation accounts for 1,300 households without toilets while 505 insanitary toilets need to be converted into sanitary ones. Angamaly municipality has 300 households without toilets and 250 insanitary toilets, Thrikkakara 200 and 115, North Paravur 118 and 200 and Thrikkakara has 215 households in need of toilets.

While funds to the tune of Rs. 2.12 crore has been allocated to municipal bodies under different heads including for Information Education and Communication campaign and Individual Household Latrines (IHHL), none of them have even issued the first instalment to beneficiaries identified.

Aluva and Perumbavur municipalities have not even identified beneficiaries. Perumbavur municipality claimed that its health staff are in the process of verifying whether the beneficiaries identified by the Community Development Society members were genuine.

Muvattupuzha municipality was late in forwarding proposals under SBM (U) whereas funds allocated could not be transferred to Thrikkakara municipality as it failed to inform the District Suchitwa Mission about the bank account details.