Village development officer Deepak Kumar Srivastava says thesuccess story was shortlived. "Many people now use theirtoilets for storage or have simply stopped using it over a span oftime. The older generation is used to open defecation, which theyfeel is a cleaner option than toilets," he says. And, while miles away from being free of open defecation, thevillag swears by subsidies. Says gram pradhan Dinesh Kumar Yadav,"The subsidy should be increased. It pays only part of thecost now. People should get the full cost, not just Rs4,500." Karimabad in the nearby Kakori area has about 220 houses. It wasdesignated as an Ambedkar Village in 2008-09 (the status entitles avillage to get basic amenities like roads, drains, toilets, power,drinking water, health facilities and houses for the poor on apriority), but there still are families with no toilets. "Most of the BPL (below poverty line) families had beencovered in the sanitation scheme in Karimabad, but there are about50-60 families, mostly APL (above poverty line), which are to becovered under the scheme," says village development officerVivek Sharma. The UP government claims to have covered all the 52,000 grampanchayats under the rural sanitation programme. But the 2011household census found just 5.5 million rural households havetoilets in the state, against a total of 22 mn households. The centrally-sponsored Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) aims toeradicate open defecation in India by 2017, with individual andcommunity toilets. Since its advent in the state in 2002, about Rs2,600 crore have been spent in UP, both central and statecomponent. Himachal"s zero subsidy approach is not being considered.Yet, panchayat raj officials, while swearing by subsidy, recognisethat habits have to be changed. Muralidhar Dubey, the director inthe department, says: "Behavioural change can happen withmore subsidy and health awareness." Himachal's long wait for rewards In Himachal Pradesh, on the other hand, the state government saysit has achieved the goal of total sanitation . It did so through azero subsidy approach, involving mass awareness through activistsand volunteers. The Centre is supposed to give Nirmal Gram awards to villages whichachieve the Open Defecation Free status. In the state, mostvillages have got the status and a reward would mean Rs 5 lakheach. The state"s rural development officials complain the centralrural sanitation agencies are reluctant to declare villages in thehill state as nirmal gram panchayats (NGP), to avoid paying thisprize money. "Even when these agencies find all homes havetoilets, they point out that some rural schools or a market placenear the villages may not have enough toilets," said oneofficial. State government officials acknowledge this is an issue at someplaces, particularly where migrant labour moves in villages andtownships despite contractors being asked to provide toilets forworkers. "Out of 3,243 panchayats in the state, 1,011 are already NGP," said Robin George , a senior official of the state"srural development department. "We have asked them all toapply for this status, so that the state and central agencies canvisit each and verify their claims.". We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Water Bird Manufacturer , Inflatable Snow Globe for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Inflatable Water Park.
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