AIZAWL, April 8 - The entire State of Mizoram is now declared free of open defecation, three years after the launch of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
KT Beichho, secretary of Public Health Engineering department, nodal agency for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign, said that all the eight districts of Mizoram have been declared open defecation free. �Even though Siaha district (in southernmost Mizoram) is yet to be officially declared ODF district as certificate is yet to be sent to the Central Government, entire Mizoram is now declared ODF State,� he said.
With this, Mizoram becomes the fourth State in Northeastern India to be declared Open Defecation Free, after Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.
Owing to Mizoram becoming open defecation free State, the State Government would receive Rs 30 crore from the Union Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation for building infrastructures, he said, adding it would be funded in a 90:10 pattern.
The official said the fund would be utilised for sanitation campaign, construction of public toilets and urinals and waste disposal.
