None of the states had 100% access to toilets.
Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar was in a spot on Tuesday when he claimed that rural areas in five states had become Open Defecation Free (ODF).
But the findings of Swachh Survekshan, commissioned by the Union Drinking Water and Sanitation ministry, that he released, belied his claims.
The survey conducted by the Quality Council of India (QCI) with 1.4 lakh households in 4626 villages across all states found 62.45% households in rural India having access to toilets while their usage was 91%. None of the states had 100% access to toilets.
Parameswaran Iyer, secretary, Ministry of Drinking water and sanitation tried to justify Tomar’s claim by saying the figures are “dynamic.”
The survey found that Haryana and Kerala had the maximum toilet coverage at 99%, followed by Sikkim at 97%. Access to toilets was lowest in Bihar at 30 %, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand at 37 %.
QCI conducted the nationwide third-party verification survey during May-June this year to evaluate the progress made under the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) in rural India. SBM was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 2, 2014 with the goal of achieving ODF and Clean India by October 2, 2019.
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