Ranchi, Aug. 8: Kersai block in Simdega is all set to be declared as the first tribal-dominated block to be open-defecation free (ODF) in Jharkhand, its DC has said.

"Tribal-dominated block Kersai has become ODF. We will soon organise an event here and invite chief minister Raghubar Das to declare it as the first tribal-dominated block in Jharkhand to become so," Simdega DC Vijoy Kumar Singh told this correspondent today.

"It is not just that every household of the block has toilets, people are actually using them, which is very crucial to make Swachh Bharat Abhiyan a success," he said.

The DC also claimed Kersai was the only block with a tribal majority population in Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha where people had stopped defecating in the open. However, so far, this paper has not received proof of this claim.

Kersai block has a population of about 39,000 living in 20 villages under its jurisdiction. An overwhelming majority - 80 per cent of them - are tribals. Five per cent belong to Scheduled Caste groups. About 7,000 toilets were built at the block's seven panchayats.

The state built toilets in schools. In households, people got a subsidy of Rs 12,000 for a double-leach pit toilet.

"Many homes may be kutcha. But toilets are not just pucca, they are painted," a district official said. "People were really motivated and they responded wholeheartedly when a 'paint your toilets' campaign was held in the recent past, which is why about 4,000 toilets of Kersai have painted walls."

More crucial, each toilet has a tank attached that is filled with water from hand pumps or wells. In the future, the district administration plans to provide piped water to ODF villages.

Posters have also been made to motivate people. One such poster carries photographs of seven mukhiyas of panchayats in Kersai, appealing to counterparts in other blocks to follow their example. In another, made with Raksha Bandhan in mind, the poster says a brother can give the best gift to his sister by constructing a toilet for her dignity and safety.

Two other Simdega blocks Bansjor and Bano will also be declared ODF soon, DC Singh said. Bansjor will be declared ODF on October 2 this year while Bano will become so the end of 2016, DC Singh said.

"If everything goes as planned, Simdega district will be ODF by October 2, 2017. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has set October 2, 2019, as the date to make India ODF. But, Simdega can be two years ahead if we all try," the DC said.