Gurgaon, July 20 (IANS) The Haryana government will now provide incentives for construction of toilets in the villages rather than subsidy, an official said here on Wednesday.
Till now the government used to subsidise the construction of the toilets. But that policy has been revised and the village panchayats would receive incentives for maintaining cleanliness, Navraj Sandhu, Additional Chief Secretary of the Rural Development Department, said.
The government will no longer give Rs 12,000 for construction of toilets. Instead, incentives will be given.
Earlier people constructed toilet in their households availing the subsidy but never used it. Now the most clean and functional public toilet at the district will get an award of Rs 10,000 each month, Sandhu said.
She said the state government will hold competitions among the village panchayats every month for motivating the villagers to maintain cleanliness and award the best clean and green village with Rs 1 lakh every month.
Efforts will be made to change the mindset of the people so that they shun the habit of open defecation, she added.
Addressing the divisional workshop on open defecation free (ODF) strategy for Swachh Haryana, Sandhu said the government has fixed a target of making all districts of Haryana ODF by December 2017. Eight districts, including Gurgaon, would be made ODF by coming November 1.
Out of the 210 panchayats, 149 panchayats of Gurgaon district have already declared that they were ODF, which is the highest in this division.
She said districts of Sirsa and Panchkula have covered 90 per cent of their villages and about to be declared ODF.
Sandhu said rural areas will meet the target but urban slums and migratory population are a big challenge, especially in Gurgaon and Faridabad.
