Koraput: The Kotpad notified area council (NAC) in the district on Tuesday declared itself open defecation free under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

The NAC has succeeded in building 1,043 individual household toilets in the area.

Officials have claimed that the NAC - with 3,870 households and having a population of 16,326 - is now open defecation free as all its denizens use toilets and not a single case of open defecation had been reported at the canals, river banks and ponds of the town in the past two months.

"We worked in a mission mode, and it's a great achievement for the NAC. Apart from constructing 1,043 individual household toilets, we have built as many as 53 community toilets and 12 public toilets at several places in the town," said Kotpad NAC executive officer Alok Ranjan Samantoray.

The officer recollects the hindrances, which he and his team faced while motivating people not to defecate in open around four months ago.

"Initially, the people defecating in the open didn't pay any heed to our advice to use toilets. However, we were determined. After we conducted series of counselling sessions, making them aware of the health hazards involved in open defecation, they gradually started obeying us," said Samantoray.

The officer said areas used by the public for open defecation had been identified in the town and the NAC officials used to reach those places early in the morning to prevent people from open defecation.

He also said the work was only half done. If the status is not maintained, there is no meaning in the achievement.

He said that to ensure that the open defecation free status was maintained in the coming days, sanitation committees had been formed in all the 13 wards of the NAC with the local councillor as its head.

"Apart from inspecting that people do not defecate in the open, the committee makes people aware about the demerits of open defecation," said Samantoray.

"Also, students are being sensitised about the benefits of using toilets through workshops, which are organised at their respective schools and colleges," he said.

The Kotpad NAC, which is situated at a distance of about 70km from here and bordering Jagdalpur of Chhattisgarh, is also ranked as the fourth best urban body in the state for its overall performance by the state government's urban development department.

"Our next target is to provide safe drinking water connection to all households of the NAC, and work for it has already begun. While at least 3,480 households have been applied for the drinking water connection, we have so far provided connection to 670 households. The remaining connections will be given in next few months," said Koraput collector K. Sudarshan Chakravarthy, while speaking in the open defecation free declaration ceremony organised by the NAC on Tuesday.