State lags behind in Swachh awareness: Centre

Hyderabad: Telangana has been lagging behind in spending the amounts released by the Centre for the information, education and communication (IEC) programmes under Swachh Bharat Mission as it spent only 0.5 per cent of the funds received so far.

This observation has been made by the Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS). Issuing statistics of the spending of various State governments on the IEC programme, the department noted that out of Rs 12 crore sanctioned to Telangana for IEC programme, only Rs 6 lakh had been spent in the financial year 2015-16.

The department made it clear that to get funds for the present financial year, the concerned department should spend the amounts released completely. The State was also told to release its share for SBM programme.

According to the statistics released by the MDWS, Andhra Pradesh spent 11 per cent, Arunachal Pradesh spent 100 per cent, Assam – 16, Bihar 4, Chhattisgarh - 15, Gujarat – 10, Haryana - 100, Himachal Pradesh - 25, Jammu and Kashmir - 10, Jharkhand – 38, Karnataka – 16, Kerala – 11, Madhya Pradesh – 8, Maharashtra – 27, Meghalaya – 80, Nagaland – 8, Odisha – 10, Punjab – 29, Rajasthan – 9, Sikkim – 100, Tamil Nadu – 6, Telangana – 0.5, Tripura – 61, Uttar Pradesh 8, Uttarakhand 6 and West Bengal – 56 per cent.

According to the guidelines under Swachh Bharat Mission, the States should spend about 8 per cent of the fund given for SBM. Telangana has been given Rs 160 crores.

The MDWS observed that the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) is not about constructing toilets but aims at behavioural change of the masses to adopt better sanitation practices. Therefore, information, education and communication (IEC) strategies, planning and their effective implementation were the key to the success of Swachh Bharat, it said.

In general, it has been observed that despite the centrality of IEC in Swachh Bharat Mission, States have not given adequate attention to the behaviour change through IEC. SBM (G) guidelines issued by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation require that 8 per cent of the total SBM (G) national allocation should be spent on IEC, of which 5 per cent is to be used by the States, plus matching allocation from State governments should be made.

States should spend at least 60 per cent of their IEC allocation (both Central and State share) on inter-personal communication. However, so far, the States have performed rather poorly in spending their IEC funds. The low utilisation of IEC funds has had a detrimental impact on the quality and quantity of the programme. Less than 30 per cent States have so far uploaded their IEC plans in comparison to 45 per cent uploading of district Swachhta plans. Only five States have appointed district IEC consultants.

In some cases, States have been seen not to have provided matching grants from their side under the IEC head. This has to be strictly abided by in the mandated 60:40 Centre-State ratio. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) emphasises on more focus on IEC and effective, efficient and complete utilisation of the IEC allocation.