Swachchh drive fails to make a clean sweep in J&K

Srinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan’ has failed to pick up in Kashmir mainly due to political reasons but administrative incoherence has similarly affected people’s engagement at the ground level, a senior government official admitted to this newspaper requesting anonymity.

“The Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan was adversely affected by the civil unrest,” the official said, referring to the months-long violence triggered by the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani during a counterinsurgency operation by the security forces in July last year. Responsible for arguably one of the worst law and order situations in Kashmir in decades, the unrest paralysed the state government and enfeebled the Valley’s political system, forcing the administration to put several government ventures on hold.

“But now that the situation is more or less back to normal, we are making extra efforts to ensure maximum number of people and areas get the benefit from the schemes under this mission,” the official said, insisting that “the overwhelming political sentiment or aversion for any political party or its leadership has nothing to do with the slow pace of the implementation of the mission”. “A poor man desperate for the toilet and wanting to have one at his home or nearby is hardly bothered if getting it is identified with politics,” the official observed.

Government data admit to slowness in the implementation of Swachchh Bharat Mission-Gramin, which aims at converting all bucket latrines into sanitary one, construct sewerage system and drains and community sanitary complexes (CSCs). As per the available data, of the Rs 83.84 crore of the total approved allocation of Rs 100 crore for 2016-17, only Rs 32.86 crore was spent as of December 2016. Likewise, for the current financial year, the target of constructing 300,000 individual house-hold latrines (IHHLs) and 1,276 CSCs in the state ended up with only 56,319 IHHLs and 303 CSCs until November 2016.

In the Kashmir division, out of a target of 18,546, 10, 340 and 36, 516 IHHLs set under the mission for 2016-17 in Anantnag, Bandipore and Baramulla districts only 472, 3,671 and 2,476 could be constructed till ending 2016, respectively. The situation is equally bleak in the Jammu division where the target set for Jammu district was 40,000, for Kathua 18,737 and for Ramban 7,384. Out of these only 1,536, 2,101 and 951 IHHLs were constructed in these districts, respectively. In 2015-16 also, less than half of the targeted 200,000 IHHLs could be constructed in the State.

Authorities say they have been trying to overcome the lapses and shortcomings. “We are very keen to encourage more and more people to come forward and be active participants in the mission to overcome the habit of open defecation and ensure proper disposal of domestic refuses. We are taking effective measures towards implementing the SBM-G in letter and spirit,” said J&K’s rural development department secretary Kifayat Hussain Rizvi.