Guwahati: A survey, Swachh Survekshan Grameen, 2018, to rank all 33 districts covering 219 blocks of the state on the basis of performance in quantitative and qualitative parameters of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) was inaugurated by public health engineering minister Rihon Daimari here on Thursday.

The ranking will be done by using information on the service-level progress, survey of public places and citizens' feedback.

The ministry of drinking water and sanitation has commissioned the survey through an independent agency to rank all districts and states of the country on the basis of a comprehensive set of cleanliness parameters. Top performing states and districts will be awarded on October 2, 2018. Assam formally launched the survey on Thursday.

The objectives of the survey are to undertake a ranking of districts on the basis of performance on key Swachh Bharat parameters, engage rural community in the improvement of their sanitation status through an intensive and holistic information, education and communication (IEC) campaign, compare performance within districts in a state and across districts and states nationally on key SBM (G) parameters, ascertain the progress of swachhata on ground through a sample survey in select public places like schools, Anganwadis and bazaars in villages of all districts implementing the mission and engage with select gram panchayats and citizens in every district and solicit their feedback and recommendations on improving the programme implementation.

Daimari said, "Largescale IEC and inter-personal communication activities will be conducted in all 33 districts covering 219 blocks of the state to sensitise the people about sanitation and the survery. Subsequently, all the districts will launch their respective surveys in the headquarters. The survey is a positive step towards mass sensitisation of the people of Assam on sanitation."

"A total of 28 lakh toilets have been constructed till now and 12 districts declared open-defecation free (ODF). The Centre has provided Rs 138 crore to repair dysfunctional toilets. An impact study covering 72,582 households in 744 gram panchayats across the state has revealed that 96 per cent of them have access to toilets while 89 per cent are using these facilities," added Daimari.

Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) mission director Siddharth Singh said this is the largest national survey on sanitation in rural India which has the potential for boosting sanitation and IEC activities within the state. Singh mentioned that a massive awareness campaign is being launched in all the districts.

It was also stated that each of the 28 lakh toilets were constructed at a cost of only Rs 12,000, making them very basic but functional.

A "Swachhata Rath" containing all the details of the survey, to be held from August 1 to 31, was also flagged off by Daimari.