Nellore: As many as 100 villages in SPSR Nellore district were declared as open defecation free (ODF) areas as part of Swachh Bharat programme. Credit goes to district collector M Janaki and the workforce of AP Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project for converting 100 villages as open defecation-free habitations through scores of sensitisation programmes.
Speaking to media persons here on Monday, Ms Janaki said they had chalked out plans for converting 940 villages as open defecation-free before the end of this year. She sought the cooperation of peoples' representatives, officials and others to achieve the target for constructing individual toilets in all the villages. According to the collector construction of 2,398 toilets under NREGS, and 36,209 individual toilets under Swachh Bharat mission has been taken up.
As of now the district has been ranked second in the state and special attention is being paid to implement the programme in Vizianagaram, Krishna, and West Godavari districts. The collector said a resource person will be appointed for every two mandals for taking care of the activities and personal monitoring. Special officers of mandals will stay in these targeted villages on every Wednesday night for taking stock of the progress.
For construction of individual toilets, the Union government will provide support of Rs 9,000 and the state government will provide Rs 3,000 and 52,000 toilets have been constructed last year. CEO of Zilla Parishat B. Ramireddy and district coordinator of the programme Susmitha Reddy were present with the collector.
