Centre okays Rs 419.56 cr to Karnataka under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

New Delhi/Bengaluru/Mangaluru: The Centre has approved Rs 419.56 crore funds to Karnataka under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan for speeding up construction of toilets in rural areas this fiscal, Minister of State for Drinking Water and Sanitation Ramesh Jigajinagi said.

“So far, we have released Rs 190.07 crores to the Karnataka government. The state had demanded release of Rs 419.56 crores and the same has been approved after taking into account the past utilisation certification,” he said.

The state has been given higher funds under the scheme this year as compared to the initial allocation of Rs 253.43 crores, he told reporters here. So far, the southern state has spent Rs 240 crores under the scheme. Around 27 taluks and five districts — Udupi, Bengaluru, Bengaluru rural, Kodagu and Dakshin Kannada are declared as open defecation free, he said.

Jigajinagi, a dalit leader and five-time MP from northern Karnataka, however, noted that the state government needed to put in more efforts to achieve the target of constructing 12,14,993 toilets set for this year. As per the government data, about 5,17,987 individual toilets have been constructed as on January 5 of this fiscal, against the target of 12,14,119 for the same period.

In case of community toilets, the state has been able to construct only 52 against the target of 874 so far this year.