Team Herald
PORVORIM: With an aim to make Goa Open Defecation Free, Government will provide 60,000 toilets across the State at an estimated cost of Rs 280 crore, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told the House on Wednesday.
He said that bio-toilets will be made available to the beneficiaries, who will have to shell out five-10 percent of the cost of toilets. He said that the tender for procurement of the toilets would be issued by next month by Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC).
Raining the issue of releasing bio-toilets panchayat wise, Congress MLA Wilfred D’Sa sought to know the current status of the survey undertaken to identify the total requirements of the toilets.
“We will be fixing 60,000 toilets across the State to make it ODF under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. The State-run Waste Management Corporation will be tendering the purchase of the bio-toilets under this scheme by August 12,” Parrikar said.
He said that the Directorate of Panchayats and RDA will be assisting the corporation to implement the scheme.
The tender would be floated by the corporation but it is difficult for a single contractor to provide 60,000 toilets within two-three months because of which we have decided to take on board seven to eight contractors, the Chief Minister said.
The total expenditure on this project is Rs 280 crore. Each toilet will cost between Rs 35,000-40,000 depending on the quality, he added.
Responding to the question by Opposition Leader Chandrakant Kavalekar that many of the beneficiaries will find it difficult to get NOC from their landowners, Parrikar said 70 per cent of the beneficiaries own the land. “Wherever we find it difficult to get the land, we will be constructing community toilets,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that the existing laws will be amended to tackle the problem related to NOC from the landowner.
Earlier, Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho said that survey is yet to be completed and informed that survey in the panchayats of Loutolim, Verna and Nuvem is in progress, while in Majorda and Betalbatim the same is yet to start.
