All states and UTs have applicants who are awaiting approval for over six months under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban
Be prepared to wait for at least half a year if you are planning to build a toilet under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban. As on November 16, 2017, more than 1.27 million applications were pending for approval—81 per cent of them had been delayed by over six months.
The five states that have the maximum number of applications pending for over six months are Chhattisgarh (138,076), Assam (130,637), poll-bound Madhya Pradesh (120,361), Maharashtra (104,444) and Bihar (72,475). In fact, all states and union territories had applications that had been pending for more than half a year.
The delay is not just restricted to the approval of the application forms. The scheme has consistently failed to deliver on the targets. Picture this: In 2015-16, only 0.12 million individual toilets were constructed out of the targeted 2.5 million toilets. Similarly, in 2016-17, only 40 per cent of the 3.5 million-target was met. In other words, the scheme had a backlog of 4.4 million toilets by March 2017. Even though the scheme has picked up pace in the current financial year, the government is likely miss the overall target (10.4 million individual toilets) under the scheme that ends in March 2019.
See interactive
(For more such stories, book your copy of the State of India’s Environment 2018, Down to Earth)
We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.