The hill State of Himachal is all set to become the ODF (open defecation free) State by 2019 and would aggressively pursue the “Swatch Bharat Mission” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claimed a government spokesman here on Sunday. He said the State has already prepared a plan under the “Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan” and would make individual, institutional, community and cluster toilets to achieve a 100-per-cent access to sanitation in the rural households by 2022. The Gram Panchayats in rural areas would ensure the disposal of solid and liquid waste management.

The State had earlier approved a strategy and adopted Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) as a demand-driven, community-led and people-centric programme to achieve the Nirmal Himachal status. The strategy was to address all sections of rural population so as to bring about relevant behavioural changes for improved sanitation and hygiene practices in the rural areas of the State.

As per the fresh base line survey conducted in early 2013, out of 14,83,562 households in Himachal Pradesh, 12,74,555 have toilet facility and around 2.5 lakh are yet to be covered.

The State has been given the approval of Rs. 852.55 crore for revised projects under Swatch Bharat Mission, out of which the first instalment of Rs. 48 crore has been received. As many as 2.2 lakh individual toilets would be constructed out of which 54,000 have already been constructed apart from,1200 toilets under construction in the schools.