One fourth of rural households in Bihar have toilets: Govt

Patna, Mar 15: Bihar government today said only one fourth of 2.13 crore rural households in the state have toilets.

Replying to BJP member Krishna Kumar Singh's query regarding the status of toilets, Public Health and Engineering Department Minister Krishnandan Prasad Verma informed the Legislative Council that out of 2.13 crore rural households, 50.76 lakh have toilets in their houses.

Toilets are yet to be constructed in the remaining 1.63 crore households, Prasad said while citing the figures from a base-line survey.

Stating that the department was making efforts to make panchayats free of open defecation, he said 33 gram panchayats have so far been declared 'open defecation free'.

Leader of Opposition Sushil Kumar Modi said the pace of toilet construction suggest that merely 30 to 35 lakh toilets would be constructed in the next five years.

"This raises a serious question as to how the government would be able to complete construction of 1.63 crore toilets and from where the state government would get Rs 22,000 crore meant for the purpose," he said.

On Prasad's silence over this, Council Chairman said the minister would reply later.

PTI