TSC receives approval of Cent Outlay of Rs 7,816 crore

NEW DELHI: Government's ambitious Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) that envisages the achievement of providing total sanitation in all villages of the country by 2012, has received an approval of Central Outlay of Rs 7,816 crore for the 11th Five Year Plan.

Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh told mediapersons today that under TSC, the Union Cabinet last week also approved the increment in the unit cost for construction of latrines to Rs 2,500 from the existing Rs 1,500.

The unique aspect of this scheme is that even though the government has increased the unit cost, villagers on their part would only have to pay Rs 300 from their pockets, an amount that they have been giving since 2004.

The minister also said that while in 2003-04 only 21.29 per cent rural households had access to toilets, till July 2008, 55.56 per cent rural households had this facility.

In order to encourage total sanitation in villages, the Rural Development Ministry also give Nirmal Gram Puraskar (NGP) to those villages that have achieved complete sanitation.

While in 2005 only 38 Gram Panchayats received this award, in 2007, Singh said 4,945 Panchayats were given this award.

India, the minister said, is all set to host the Third South Asia Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN), which would be held here. The conference would take place in November this year. The earlier two editions were held in Dhaka and Islamabad.