By IANS
New Delhi : In an effort to eliminate the inhuman practice of manual scavenging in the country, the union cabinet Thursday decided to convert 600,000 dry latrines into flush toilets at an investment of Rs.7.15 billion.
After a cabinet meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said the approval was granted for “implementation of the revised guidelines for converting individual dry latrines into pour-flush latrines of the centrally sponsored scheme of integrated low cost sanitation scheme”.
The minister said the scheme would entail total financial implication of Rs.7.15 billion, of which Rs.5.45 billion would be given as subsidy.
The target will be achieved by 2009-10 and the “state and union territories will be requested to take appropriate action to implement the scheme on priority basis,” said the minister.
Though India officially banned manual scavenging over a decade ago, the practice still continues in parts of the country. At the World Toilet Summit, in New Delhi last year, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said India would eliminate the inhuman practice by 2010.