India 'missing' 37 million lavatories, campaigners claim - Telegraph
India has 37 million 'missing lavatories' its government claims to have built in villages throughout the country but which do not exist, campaigners have said.
The claim was made on 'World Toilet Day' on Tuesday by sanitation campaigners who compared figures claimed by the government's rural development ministry and official data from India's census.
Campaigners called for an inquiry into the discrepancy and said it called into question the government's Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan scheme to build lavatories throughout the country.
Advisers had already called on the government to halt its lavatory building programme after it emerged that many of the lavatories were in fact being used by store rooms, guest rooms and kitchens by villagers who preferred to do their ablutions in the open.
But according to Rajesh Upadhyay of the National Confederation of Dalit Organisations which has led the campaign, the 'ground reality' in India's villages is far worse. He and his colleagues discovered official figures for homes with lavatories had been vastly exaggerated.
"We compared data provided by the Census department and Rural development ministry and found a discrepancy in their figures. The census says 31 per cent of the population have lavatories whereas the Rural Development Ministry says over 50 per cent have lavatories. We conclude that 37 million lavatories are missing on the ground and are only on papers," he said.
In some villages his team discovered fewer than one in six had access to a lavatory and those that did were unable to use them.
He called for an inquiry to establish the number of Indians without a lavatory and called for new legislation to make sure every home has one.
India has 37 million 'missing lavatories' its government claims to have built in villages throughout the country but which do not exist, campaigners have said.
The claim was made on 'World Toilet Day' on Tuesday by sanitation campaigners who compared figures claimed by the government's rural development ministry and official data from India's census.
Campaigners called for an inquiry into the discrepancy and said it called into question the government's Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan scheme to build lavatories throughout the country.
Advisers had already called on the government to halt its lavatory building programme after it emerged that many of the lavatories were in fact being used by store rooms, guest rooms and kitchens by villagers who preferred to do their ablutions in the open.
But according to Rajesh Upadhyay of the National Confederation of Dalit Organisations which has led the campaign, the 'ground reality' in India's villages is far worse. He and his colleagues discovered official figures for homes with lavatories had been vastly exaggerated.
"We compared data provided by the Census department and Rural development ministry and found a discrepancy in their figures. The census says 31 per cent of the population have lavatories whereas the Rural Development Ministry says over 50 per cent have lavatories. We conclude that 37 million lavatories are missing on the ground and are only on papers," he said.
In some villages his team discovered fewer than one in six had access to a lavatory and those that did were unable to use them.
He called for an inquiry to establish the number of Indians without a lavatory and called for new legislation to make sure every home has one.
India is beyond a joke. What a horrible country.
