Tirupati: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday said Andhra Pradesh has become the first state in the country to achieve open defecation free (ODF) status in 110 municipalities and 1,368 gram panchayats.
At a function held at Mahati Auditorium here, he announced the list of towns and villages that have achieved ODF status in the state.
Tirupati, Narasaraopet, Visakhapatnam and Guntur got best municipality awards for achie-ving cent per cent resul-ts in cleanliness. Tirumala temple bagged the cleanest temple award in the country, he said.
A third-party assessment committee declared seven municipalities in the state as ODF and the assessment of remaining municipalities will be completed within a couple of days, he said.
“By 2018, AP would be Swachh state,” he said.
Mr Naidu said he and his 10-member committee, formed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, visited several places in the country and other countries to study cleanliness methods adopted by those governments and submitted a comprehensive report giving various suggestions. Later, the Prime Mini-ster launched the Swac-hh Bharat Abhiyan based on the report.
In 75: 25 sharing basis, the Centre gave Rs 7,200 per latrine to be constructed in the rural areas, and the remaining expense was borne by the state government, he added.
“We did not backtrack even when the Centre sanctioned Rs 4,000 per to-ilet for some areas. We have completed our target by spending funds and achieved this succe-ss. Now 110 municipalities and 1,368 villages have achieved ODF status. The mission will be completed by 2 October, 2018,” Mr Naidu said.
Municipal administration minister P. Narayana and other ministers were present at the programme.
