Urban toilet mission falls way short of target

In what should come as a wake-up call for the government, construction of household toilets in urban areas in 2015-16 achieved just 54 per cent of the target.
The figure was 68 per cent for community and public toilets. Against a target of constructing 25 lakh individual household toilets, only 13.2 lakh were actually built. Work has commenced on 24.6 lakh more such toilets, the Urban Development Ministry said, which is expected to push the pace of completion this financial year. Gujarat emerged the best performer, accounting for more than one-third of the total household toilets constructed during last year. Eleven states including Assam, J&K, Meghalaya and Tripura did not report completion of even a single toilet while UP improved its position.