Thiruvananthapuram: Thiruvananthapuram has been declared an ODF district, with construction of 14221 toilets being completed. Anchuthengu was the last grama panchayath where work was completed. Power and Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran, pronouncing the capital an ODF district, remembered Siluvamma, the old woman who was mauled to death by street dogs. It happened because her house in Karimkulam Panchayath which stood on 0.75 cents sheltering three families had no space for toilets, he added.
Paucity of space had delayed Thiruvananthapuram’s race to become ODF, with 150 families in Anchuthengu unable to make room for toilets, according to B Anish, District Coordinator. The government did not even have ‘Puramboke’ land in this area, he added saying that in Anchuthengu, Azhoor and Amboori it was technically difficult to construct toilets. Kadakampally said that one should never forget how Thiruvananthapuram, despite its various progress indicators, still had people defecating in the open even two days ago.
At an interstate ministers’ conference he attended recently, he had learnt that more than 12,000 villages in India were yet to be electrified. “That showed where Kerala stood as compared to other Indian states. By March 2017, the state is about to achieve electrification of 100 percent households, 90 percent of which belong to the poorest of poor.”
District Panchayath President V K Madhu said that after the 100 percent ODF status, the capital district was moving forward on the mission for 100 percent housing and would also be a 100 percent ABC district by January 1, 2017. District Collector S Venkatesapathy shared Thiruvananthapuram’s ODF report. The function was held at Collectorate Conference Hall, Kudappanakunnu.
