On ground study of the ODF status of Ghaziabad district, U.P.

Abstract

The Swachh Bharat Mission was started by the Prime Minister of India with a vision of clean India and to ensure hygiene, waste management and sanitation across the nation. Since its inception in 2014, its progress has been praise worthy. More than 91.65 million toilets have been built across the nation and 0.54 million villages, 585 districts and 27 States/UTs have been declared open defecation free. In the past one year, the pace of toilet construction has been exponential in States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha. However, many agencies have noted that the districtswith ODF status and 100% toilet construction on governmentWeb sites have a high fall back rate and a substantial amount of people not using toilets even now. A similar trend was noticed in the district of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh through a survey conducted in the town. The purpose of this paper is to find whether the district of Ghaziabad is in fact, truly ODF, and if not, the reasons for the same so that a general understanding of most cities of India and their performance in the mission could be understood.