BERHAMPUR: Only 44 per cent people in rural areas of Ganjam district are aware of Central Government’s ambitious Swachh Bharat Mission.A survey conducted by an NGO, Youth for Social Development (YSD), reveals the dismal performance of the mission in the district’s villages. The report of the survey, which covered 10 blocks, 20 gram panchayats and 1,969 households, was presented at a district level dissemination workshop on rural sanitation held at Chhatrapur recently.
The study was based on parameters like quality, reliability, staff responsiveness, corruption, satisfaction level, suggestions from beneficiaries and physical verification of rural sanitation.It was revealed that inordinate delay in issue of work orders, release of incentives owing to technical glitch and shortage of senior officials have discouraged new beneficiaries from starting construction of toilets.
Besides, the toilets which have already been constructed are of sub-standard quality which has led to dissatisfaction among the beneficiaries. The majority of such toilets in the villages are being used as store rooms due to lack of piped water supply. The report revealed that overall 37 per cent beneficiaries are dissatisfied with the mission. It added that a few schools in rural areas have separate toilets for girls.While 15 per cent children do not have access to toilets in schools, 80 per cent said even if they have toilets in their educational institutions, they lack hand washing facilities.
The report stated that staff of such schools are dissatisfied owing to lack of water facility. The situation is the same with the Anganwadi centres where absence of piped water has emerged as a major source of disappointment for the users. More than 170 functionaries, including senior Government officials and front line service providers from across the district, participated in the workshop.