UP to build 44,000 toilets every day

lucknow — Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s announcement that 30 districts of the state would be open defecation free by December 31 and the remaining 45 by October 2, 2018, has set a punishing task for the bureaucrats and officials in the state.

The target is 15.5 million toilets. To meet the deadline the state will have to construct a whopping 44,000 toilets every day.

Realising the uphill task, Chief Secretary Rajiv Kumar has asked district magistrates to spend at least 30 minutes each day to monitor the pace of toilet construction in their respective districts.

The chief secretary would also be reviewing the progress on 10th of every month and divisional commissioners have also been asked to keep track of the progress.

Kumar has already begun reviewing the Swacch Bharat Mission works through videoconferencing.

Realising though that the mammoth target could unnerve many a bureaucrat, especially in the districts, where young IAS officers are posted, the state government has decided to encourage them with rewards and other incentives.

Shamli District Magistrate Indra Vikram Singh who has achieved the target of making villages on the banks of the river Ganga ODF would be felicitated, officials of the Panchayati Raj Department said.

Additional Chief Secretary Panchayati Raj Chanchal Tiwari said that officials have been tasked with ensuring that work on the Swacch Bharat Mission projects are completed within the time-limit given to the state.

Insiders say with the prices of construction materials rising at most places due to the new mining policy of the Bharatiya Janata Party government, meeting the deadline was “next to impossible”.