Bihar’s Rural Cleanliness Revolution: Over 1.46 Crore Toilets Built in a Decade

Bihar has achieved great success in the field of toilet construction and cleanliness in rural areas. More than 1 crore 46 lakh individual toilets have been constructed across the state under the Lohia Swachh Bihar Abhiyan in about 10 years from the year 2014 till now. Statistics show that this campaign of the Rural Development Department of the Government of Bihar has been successful in the entire state.

Big change in rural life due to toilet construction

To achieve the target of 'toilet construction is the honor of the house' under Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Saat Nishchay-1, individual toilets were built for 122.15 lakh families of the state in the first phase of Lohia Swachh Bihar Abhiyan (from the year 2014-15 to 2019-20). In this campaign, a provision was made to give an incentive amount of Rs 12 thousand to families of all categories to encourage the accessibility and continuity of use of toilets in the rural areas of the state. Along with this, 9 thousand 824 community sanitation complexes have been constructed so far under the Lohia Swachh Bihar Abhiyan. At the same time, 24.70 lakh toilets have been constructed under the Lohia Swachh Bihar Abhiyan second phase (from the year 2021-22 to 2025-26). In this way, more than one crore 46 lakh individual toilets have been constructed in the last 10 years.

8 lakh more toilets will be constructed

With the aim of making Bihar completely clean, the Lohia Swachh Bihar Abhiyan is being conducted by integrating the centrally sponsored Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural) and the state financed Lohia Swachhta Yojana by the state government. Under the second phase of Lohia Swachh Bihar Abhiyan, now in the financial year 2025-26, the state government has set a target to provide access to individual toilets to about 8 lakh new families or families left out due to some reason. More than 1 lakh rickshaws are being used for door-to-door garbage collection for rural waste management. Along with this, community sanitation complex/ cluster toilets will also be constructed as per the requirement in rural areas to provide toilets to landless families, mobile population and temporary population.

Effect of Lohia Swachh Bihar Abhiyan

With the successful implementation of this campaign, not only has Bihar become open defecation free but rural families have also got cleanliness and health security. This initiative of the Bihar government is playing an important role in taking the state to new dimensions of cleanliness and it will be strengthened further in the coming years.