Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin Mission: Five Lakh Families yet to be Covered

SBMG-IHHL

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Sept 3: With just 13 months left for the Assam Government to complete the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBMG) Mission, it remains to be seen as to how much progress would be made in this flagship programme of the Central Government by the deadline of October 2, 2019 as more than five lakh households are yet to be brought within its ambit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched this ambitious project on October 2, 2014. The prime component of the mission is to ensure that each household in the rural areas possesses an individual household latrine (IHHL). However, the fact remains that still 5,75,064 families in the State are yet to own IHHL.

It needs to be mentioned that once IHHL is found to be 100 per cent, the respective village is declared ‘Open defecation Free’ (ODF).

The mission is carried out in the 90:10 funding pattern with the Central Government bearing the major share while the State government shoulders the remaining portion. The Central Government released Rs 2675 crore for carrying out the mission in Assam during the period from 2015-16 to 2018-19 (Up to august 2018). The fund allocated for the construction of an individual unit under the mission is Rs 12,000.

The nodal agency to carry out the mission in Assam is the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department.

The SBMG Assam recently carried out a survey entitled Swachh Sarvekshan Grameen (SSG), 2018. According to its findings, during the period (from August 1-31, 2018) four districts were found to be lagging behind. These districts are Karimganj (with just 24.57% accomplishment), Nagaon (48.29%), Hojai (22.58%), and South Salmara Mancachar (28.19%). The survey therefore found that IHHL was found in only 42 of the 149 villages in South Salmara Mancachar district. Similarly, 91 of 403 villages were declared ODF (Open Defecation Free) in Hojai. The numbers are 467 ODF out of 967 villages in Nagaon, and only 226 ODF out of 920 villages in Karimganj district.

However, the survey mentions three districts – Kamrup (M), Majuli and Bongaigaon – as having achieved total success in the implementation of the mission. In Kamrup (M), all the 214 villages have been declared ODF. Similarly, all the 192 identified villages in Majuli are ODF; and 538 villages are ODF in Bongaigaon.