BANGALORE: The Union Government has selected 109 gram panchayats in 12 districts of the State under the Total Sanitation Campaign for the Nirmal Gram Puraskar for 2007.

Presidents of the gram panchayats will receive the award from President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on May 4 in New Delhi, Minister for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation S.A. Ravindranath told reporters here on Friday.

4,437 panchayats in all

As many as 4,437 panchayats throughout the country have been selected for the award. Maharashtra tops the list with 1,912, and Karnataka is ranked 9th.

The Total Sanitation Campaign was launched in 2006 to create hygienic conditions in villages. As many as 400 villages come under the 109 panchayats in the State chosen for the award.

The highest number of award-winning gram panchayats are in Dakshina Kannada district (44), followed by Shimoga (20), Kodagu (12), Uttara Kannada and Udupi (11 each), Mysore (3), Chikmagalur and Hassan (2 each), Bangalore Rural, Belgaum and Chitradurga (1 each).

Mr. Ravindranath said that under the Centrally sponsored campaign, 6.96 lakh toilets were constructed. They include household toilets (13.78 per cent), school toilets (57.33 per cent), anganwadi centre toilets (67.60 per cent), community toilets (15.36 per cent) and rural sanitation toilets (66.78 per cent).

The three-year campaign is being implemented with the help of non-governmental organisations.

Funding

The Centre has agreed to release Rs. 369 crore of which it has already released Rs. 83 crore. The State Government will contribute Rs. 131 crore for the implementation of the campaign.

The beneficiaries will contribute 10 per cent of the cost. The campaign will come to an end in 2008-09.

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