Bhubaneswar, Sept. 16: The state government has decided to install mobile toilets by the sides of the railway tracks to stop the practice of open defecation in the city.

There are slum settlements by the railway tracks near Lingaraj Vihar, Laxmi Sagar and Vani Vihar. People in these areas, deprived of toilets, mostly use the sides of the railway tracks for defecation.

The housing and urban development department has come up with the plan to achieve the status of 'open defecation free' city by 2018. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will execute the job on behalf of the government.

The department has written to the general manager of the East Coast Railway to convene a meeting regarding the initiative followed which places for setting up the mobile toilets will be identified for setting up the mobile toilets.

'We want to create awareness among the slum dwellers about the bad effects of this practice as well as provide them facility,' said an official of housing and urban development department.

He said the structures would be temporary till enough latrines were not constructed in these places. 'We have come up with a plan for timely construction of latrines in these areas,' said the official.

Mayor Ananta Naryan Jena said that the government had increased the incentives for construction of individual household latrines to Rs 8,000. 'The aim is to build suitable toilets and encourage its use among the slum dwellers,' said Jena.

Jena said that they were also coming up with plans for construction of community toilets for a specific cluster of houses to achieve the goal. 'We are also planning to construct mini toilets,' the mayor said.

The city administration had been slammed last month for failing to achieve the first set of target to make 25 slums along the Janpath free from open defecation within a timeframe of six months ending August 15.

The civic body, despite making several attempts, was able to make only nine slums free from open defecation with the timeframe. Getting the status of 'open defecation free' city is one of the important objectives under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

Damana resident Annapurna Maharana said that the national cleanliness programme would complete three years of its launch in October. 'The city improved on the cleanliness parameters, but failed to deliver result on the most glaring problem - open defecation,' said Maharana.