Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said that the state would become open defecation free by October 2, 2019, with his government constructing over 1.36 crore toilets in the last 17 months.
"Four years ago in 99,000 villages of the state, cleanliness was a distant dream. And since October 2, 2014, to March 2017, only about 25 lakh toilets were built in the state," Yogi said while interacting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the launch of the 'Swachhata Hi Seva Movement' (cleanliness is true service) as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi through the NaMo app.
The Chief Minister said that the coverage of the cleanliness in Uttar Pradesh was only 23 per cent.
"And we came to power in the state in March 2017, we took the cleanliness campaign as a mission and within 17 months we have been able to construct 1.36 crore toilets in the state," the BJP leader said.
Adityanath said that after the baseline survey for the small families, by October 2, 2019, no families would left without toilets in the state.
He also said that due to the stress on cleanliness drive, the number of the deaths due to the vector-borne diseases like encephalitis have also decreased.
"The effect of cleanliness is visible in the state and it has also affected the health of the people. In eastern Uttar Pradesh, vector-borne diseases like encephalitis and diarrhea were the reasons for many deaths. But after the cleanliness drive, the number of deaths has fallen.
"This year only six people died due to encephalitis which earlier used to be over 100," the Chief Minister added.
Modi congratulated Adityanath his team and the people of Uttar Pradesh for taking cleanliness on a mission mode.
"Towards the construction of toilets, you people have done a tremendous work. In last two year the construction of new toilets have increased more than double in the state," Modi said.
