Rural U'khand has become open defecation free: CM Rawat

The Uttarakhand government today claimed that the rural areas of the state had become Open Defecation Free (ODF).

Announcing this at a programme at the ONGC auditorium here, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said the state government has set a target of making all the urban areas ODF during the ongoing financial year.

With its rural areas declared ODF today, Uttarakhand has become the fourth state after Kerala, Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh to achieve this distinction, he said.

Significantly, Haryana is another state which claimed today that its rural areas have become ODF.

"It is important for the states to become open defecation free for the success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Swacch Bharat Mission' and with its rural areas becoming open defecation free Uttarakhand has made its own contribution," Union minister for drinking water and sanitation Narendra Singh Tomar said.

He congratulated all the officials, volunteers, people's representatives, panchayat representatives and others for this achievement.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)