Former Goa Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat on Sunday accused the Goa government of fudging facts to officially announce that the coastal state is 100 per cent open defecation free (ODF).
The state’s Director (rural) for Swachh Bharat Mission declared, on Saturday that both the districts in the state (North Goa and South Goa) were ODF.
Kamat took to Twitter to refute the claim. He said, “Goa declared 100 per cent Open Defecation Free: This is expected from the Government which has mastered the art of manipulating Facts & Figures to create a fake feeling of Acche Din.”
The declaration of Goa as an ODF state came days after Chief Minister Pramod Sawant wrote a letter to all the village panchayats in the state to help the state government achieve ODF stats by August end.
According to the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (rural) data declared in May listed Goa as one of the four atates in the country that failed to achieve the target of 100 per cent toilet coverage in rural households. Not only that it also has the lowest number of individual household toilets in India. And less than 6 per cent of the villages in the coastal state were of ODF status, again the lowest ranking.
Interestingly, by August end in just three months, Goa’s Director (rural) for Swachh Bharat Mission declaration seems too good to be true.