Every household in Gujarat will have a toilet within next three years and the state will be clean by 2019, the year of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Chief Minister Anandi Patel announced in Jamnagar on Friday. “In next three years, every household in the state will have a toilet. I have told my officers that this is one-point agenda of the state government,” Patel said while addressing a gathering at Garib Kalyan Mela on Exhibition Ground of Jamnagar. “Mahatma Gandhi laid special emphasis on cleanliness. We shall celebrate 150th birth anniversary of the Mahatma in year 2019. To ensure that every household gets a toilet by then and our state becomes clean, the government would launch a special cleanliness drive from October 2 this year,” said Patel. October 2 is the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation. The CM also gave away cheques worth Rs 8,000 each to a few beneficiaries of the state government scheme to help citizens build individual toilets. She said that there were 96,000 households without toilet in Jamnagar alone. The CM called upon self-help groups of women and government officers to take up the challenge and build these toilets within a year. Patel also sought help from NGOs and donors to achieve the goal of clean Gujarat. “Organisers of mass marriage ceremonies find donors for setting up samianas, arranging for food and gifts for girls going to marry. A group of such organisers invited me to grace such a ceremony in Surat where 200 couples are to tie the knot. But I told organisers that first conduct survey of homes of grooms and ensure that every house where girls will shift after marriage has a toilet. I would not oblige unless this is done,” said Patel while sharing an anecdote. She reiterated how women had to wait till nightfall to answer nature’s call even though they might feel urge in the morning as their houses did not have toilets. “Even pregnant women have to wait till it gets dark. Women going out at night are vulnerable to crime. Research has revealed that 30 per cent of crimes against women are committed when they venture out in dark of night to answer nature’s call. If their houses have toilets, this many percentages of crime against women will go down,” said Patel. The Garib Kalyan Mela was organised by Jamnagar Municipal Corporation. In all, 1,0559 persons were given benefits worth Rs 5.88 crore at the event. The event also marked beginning of the seventh round of such fairs where ministers and government officers directly give away state government assistance in cash or kind to beneficiaries. The practice was started in 2009 by then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi. “Since 2009, 1,098 Garib Kalyan Melas have been held and state assistance to the tune of around Rs 12,000 crore has been disbursed among 81 lakh beneficiaries. In the seventh round, the government has planned 127 melas to disburse benefits worth Rs 1,000 crore approximately,” said Agriculture Minister Babu Bokhiria, who is also minister in charge of Jamnagar district.
