Patna: Bihar carries the dubious distinction of not having a single open-defecation-free district out of the over 300 such districts in the country which have achieved this feat.

Conscious of this fact, the rural development department, which has been given the responsibility of toilet construction in Bihar, is now going to come up with a special plan that entails giving final push to the sanitation drive in areas which are on the verge of becoming open-defecation-free but were facing trouble in crossing the last hurdle.

The department has decided to prepare a team of 100 sanitation volunteers who would be sent to such areas for motivating people to take up the toilet construction work. Sanitation volunteers happen to be individuals who motivate residents for constructing a toilet in their homes.

These volunteers are given Rs 200 as incentive for motivating people. The volunteers are given special training by the district administration concerned for carrying out their work.

"We are going to make a team of 100 best volunteers from across the state who would become part of our crack team that would camp in the identified areas to achieve the goal of open-defecation-free district," a senior official of the rural development department told The Telegraph.

According to the department's plan, the selected volunteers would also be given a special training so that they could convince people who are not going for toilet construction despite repeated efforts by the government.

"We are working out the details of the plan and there is one proposal to give some additional money in addition to the incentive given to them. The final proposal, including the norms about setting up of the crack team, would be ready within a fortnight after which the execution of the plan would take place," said the official.

Once the crack team is formed and the special training is completed, the sanitation volunteers would be deputed in the identified areas for one month, said the official and added that it would help them achieve the desired goal.

Another official in the rural development department pointed out that the crack team members were likely to be deputed in Rohtas and Sheikhpura districts which have over 90 per cent households having toilets.

"We hope that the special push in these districts would lead to addition of at least two districts from Bihar in the list of open-defecation-free districts of the country," he said. As far as the open-defecation-free status in the state is concerned, 4,423 villages, 830 panchayats and 17 blocks of Bihar have achieved this distinction.