New Delhi: More than 1.47 crore individual household toilets have been constructed in rural areas under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) Phase-II during the last five years, according to the Jal Shakti ministry.
Moreover, eligible rural households are provided financial assistance of up to Rs 12,000 for constructing a toilet under the scheme.
Minister of State for Jal Shakti V Somanna said sanitation is a state subject and SBM(G)-Phase II is being implemented as a centrally sponsored scheme by states and Union Territories (UTs).
The information was provided by Somanna in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on Monday.
He said data reported by states and UTs on the SBM(G) Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) showed that 1.47 crore individual household latrines (IHHLs) were constructed under the scheme during 2021-22 and 2025-26.
The annual construction stood at 22.54 lakh in 2021-22, 27.34 lakh in 2022-23, 39.01 lakh in 2023-24, 31.56 lakh in 2024-25 and 26.66 lakh in 2025-26.
Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of toilets constructed during the five-year period at 48.99 lakh, followed by Bihar (28.09 lakh), West Bengal (12.75 lakh), Rajasthan (6.78 lakh), Odisha (6.15 lakh) and Tamil Nadu (5.81 lakh).
Somanna said the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation provides financial and technical support to states and UTs to supplement their efforts to improve rural sanitation.
"In each Financial Year, funds are allocated to States and UTs based on their approved annual implementation plan (AIP), past performance and budget availability. Under SBM(G) Phase-II, funds are not released component-wise or project-wise to States and UTs.
"States and UTs can plan for providing IHHLs, CSCs and solid and liquid waste management (SLWM) facilities under the program as per demand, local preferences, etc as per their AIP, for their villages," he said.
The minister said eligible rural households are provided an incentive of up to Rs 12,000 for constructing one individual household latrine, including a water storage facility for handwashing and cleaning.
Somanna said the programme guidelines require states and UTs to give preference to below poverty line households, followed by above poverty line households belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), persons with disabilities (PwDs), landless labourers with homestead, small farmers, marginal farmers and women-headed households.
Priority may also be accorded to old-age pensioners, widow pensioners, disability pensioners, transgender persons, pregnant and lactating mothers covered under government health programmes and households with girl children covered under welfare schemes.
"The identification of such households should be initiated by the gram panchayat in gram sabha meeting and be approved by block and district level authorities," he said.
On implementation, the minister said toilets are ideally constructed by beneficiaries themselves with support from village-level agencies and the incentive is transferred directly to their bank accounts through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mechanism.
"As per SBM(G)-Phase II guidelines, ideally the IHHL construction activities should be taken up by the individual beneficiaries themselves with support from/or through agencies in the village. The payment of incentive shall be ensured through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)," he said.
