Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (NR) 
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
  
Mangalore, Feb 19: "It is unlikely that the 2021, cut-off year for the total sanitation campaign, set by the Union Ministry for Rural Development (UMRD) will be met," cynically declared Vijaya Gawade, project officer, UNICEF, Hyderabad.
 
He was speaking at the two-day state level workshop on ‘International Year of Sanitation – 2008’ organized by the Karnataka Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, which was inaugurated here at Hotel Moti Mahal on Monday February 18.
 
According to him, while the total average sanitation cover of Karnataka is around 40 per cent, this figure is acutely low, at less than 20 per cent, in around 17 districts. The sanitation cover in the State is increasing by 8 to 10 per cent each year, he pointed out. The statistics presented at the workshop clearly revealed the slow pace of the overall sanitation campaign in the State.

Till date Dakshina Kannada and Shimoga are the only districts which may be declared as total sanitation districts, while in case of the rest, the sluggish progress in implementation of the said scheme, has given planners and experts a lot to think of. Therefore Gawade declared “It is imperative for all to implement the campaign on a mission mode,” and urged for fulfilling the objective of the campaign to make India an “open defecation-free zone by 2021.”
 
Earlier in the function S D Meena, commissioner of the agency, after inaugurating the workshop pointed out the fact that despite 53 lac households, comprising 55% of households above poverty line (APL) in the State, not having household toilets, people still demand from government subsidy to construct one. “The general opinion is that the Rs. 1,200 subsidy given to people below poverty line (BPL) to construct a toilet is not sufficient. Constructing and using a toilet should be a matter of self pride,” he stressed.
 
According to him the mindset of the people, especially in North Karnataka was proving to be a main handicap. People should be made aware of the hazards posed due to open defecation. Echoing Gawade’s view, Meena exhorting the officials to put the campaign on mission mode, urged them not to think in terms of achieving physical targets but in terms of constructing “number” of toilets. “The government is keen to ensure that the State is open defecation-free in the next three years and there will be no shortage of funds in achieving this, he promised.

 
 
The deputy commissioner M Maheshwar Rao recalling his working stint in some of the northern districts, while implementing schemes pertaining to sanitation, disclosed that the campaign there just failed to take off. As a solution to the problem Rao suggested the idea of competition amongst gram panchayats to motivate people to construct and use toilets as a means of ensuring that toilets become a priority with them. There is need for similar effort in urban-poor pockets, he added.
 
Other distinguished guests on the podium, who also spoke on the occasion, were K P Sucharitha Shetty, president of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat and Additional director of Karnataka Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency LC Veeresh.