45 per cent in Karnataka defecate in the open

 More than 45 per cent of the state’s population still defecate in the open, said Deputy Chief Minister K S Eshwarappa.

 Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Eshwarappa, who is also Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, said the state government had spent over Rs 378.

38 crore towards the Central-supported Nirmal Bharath Abhiyan envisaged to end the practice of open defecation in the state.

 Since the launch of the Nirmal Bharath Abhiyan in 2005, as many as 41.

97 lakh families were provided with individual latrines.

 “We have to tread a long way to achieve a 100 per cent in ensuring separate latrines for each household,” he said.

 As many as 1,069 panchayats had achieved 100 per cent in implementing water and sanitation programmes, Eshwarappa said and added that this year another 103 villages were being added to the list.

 There were about 3,600 village panchayats in the state, he said.

 According to the Deputy CM, Karnataka is ranked second after Kerala in the country in implementing the NBA programme.

 Eshwarappa said in 2011, 103 gram panchayats, two taluk panchayats and one zilla panchayat had achieved cent per cent sanitation target.

 “The Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayat would get a cash award of Rs 50 lakh followed by Rs 20 lakh each by Mangalore and Sullia taluk panchayats.

 Also, 103 panchayats would get an incentive of Rs 1 lakh each for the feat achieved,” he said.

 He added that the subsidy provided to construct each toilet had been enhanced to Rs 9,200 from the Centre, Rs  1,500 from the state and Rs 4,500 worth of human days (wage paid under MGNREGA scheme).

 He said all the panchayat institutions which had achieved cent per cent performance in implementing the programme would be felicitated at Raj Bhavan on Saturday