Srinagar: The successive governments over the years in the Jammu and Kashmir have not made much progress in providing total sanitation facilities, particularly in rural areas.
As per the different estimates, a staggering 60% of the state’s population still goes to open places to attend natural call and in rural areas of the state, around 70 of the population does not have access to proper toilets.
Sources in the housing and urban department said that sanitation facilities in the state are very poor, and this is not only limited to villages. The situation is similar in cities and healthcare institutions as well. Hepatitis A and diarrhoea, particularly in children, caused by rotavirus are common among patients where sanitary facilities are poor,
It is been observed that the states two capital cities are not far behind as attending the natural call at open places is widely prevalent in the numerous slums.
As per the different surveys even posh areas in Jammu and Srinagar is also among the several areas that have defunct public toilets leaving people to defecate in the open.
The Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) claims to have 78 functional public toilets in Srinagar. However, on ground, the picture is dismal with no usable public toilet accessible for the masses. Similarly a considerable number of public toilets in Jammu city are said to be in a bad shape.
Social activists are saying that subsequent governments have not bothered to provide basic facilities to the public. Most of the public toilets that are in the two capital cities are located on the main roads and follow pay and use models, which act as a deterrent for the poor, said one of the social activist.
However experts said that open defecation is a pressing public health issue and no sector can address it on its own. Civil society organizations, private sector, youth organizations, government, academia, decision makers and individuals have to work together on this issue. The practice of open defecation is totally unacceptable as it poses a risk to everyone, one of the former officials of the urban department said.
He said that the situation is so pathetic in the state that it becomes difficult to walk on some stretches due to this unhealthy practice.
The officials in the government have admitted that although a lot is being done by the government to tackle the problem of sanitation, and although efforts are yielding positive results, a lot still needs to be done, looking at the needs of the population.
A detailed exercise is also being conducted to identify the shortcomings of the existing sanitation and drinking water efforts and incorporate them, said one of the officials of the government.
It is to mention here that the Baseline survey of the union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has ranked Jammu and Kashmir third worst state in sanitation. The two worst states are Odisha and Bihar.
The survey has said that Jammu and Kashmir, a state of 12.5 million people, did not use about the money properly granted by union government for the sanitation .The survey has said that for 2014-15, the Jammu and kashmir using Rs 4.66 crore out of Rs 121.52 crore.
The survey has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modis much-talked-about sanitation programme, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, is largely unimplemented in J&K, which is partly ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The data has said that in Jammu and Kashmir, 6,351 schools lack toilets for girls and 8,098 lack toilets for boys.More than 71% of schools have no basins or taps to wash hands near toilets and urinals.
The annual implementation plan for the year 2015-2016 of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was approved by the state on June 9, setting a target of 0.2 million latrines to be constructed in rural areas during the year. Of J&Ks three regions, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, two districts, Kargil and Leh, in the mountainous Ladakh region, did better in household toilet construction than Kashmir and Jammu divisions, the data had revealed
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