NEW DELHI: Construction of toilets in urban areas, a key component under Swachh Bharat Mission, has not started in half the states almost a year after the ambitious initiative was launched by Modi government.
Fourteen laggard states and union territories have not started building toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission. The list includes election-bound Bihar, Congress-ruled Kerala and Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Jharkhand, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and West Bengal. Swachh Bharat Mission targets in urban areas include construction of 1.04 crore individual household toilets, over 5 lakh community and public toilet seats and 100% door-to-door collection of solid waste, its transportation and disposal, to be achieved by the year 2019.