Bhubaneswar, Aug. 19: The civic administration's failure to achieve the first phase of a planned programme to end open defecation has triggered speculations whether it will be able to declare the city open defecation-free by 2018.

In April, the civic body had set a target to declare at least 25 slums along the proposed Bhubaneswar Town Centre District between Vani Vihar Square and Sishu Bhawan Square free from open defecation during Independence Day celebrations on August 15.

However, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has failed to match up to their lofty expectations so far, having managed to make only nine of the 25 slums free from open defecation. It has constructed individual household latrines and public toilets at these slums in the past four months.

"We had targeted the 25 slums on Janpath in the first phase since this stretch is going to be transformed under the smart city mission. These slums are among the biggest in the city. We took the help of various voluntary organisations and local communities and reached almost the half-way mark," said a senior civic body official.

City-based social workers said the civic body needed to centralise their focus so that the targets could be achieved easily. "It is not an easy task to make the slums free from open defecation. The civic body should focus on the slums where the practice of open defecation is high and turn their focus on those," said social worker Alok Mohanty.

The failure to achieve the first set of target also raises questions over its ability to make the entire city free from open defecation by 2018. The corporation had come up with a plan where it promised to declare the entire city free from open defecation by 2018.

Ironically, none of the urban areas from Odisha has managed to become open-defecation free under the Swachh Bharat Mission. Only Deogarh in west Odisha recently achieved the feat under Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural).

Bhubaneswar mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said they were making all-round efforts to provide the required facilities to the citizens so as to become the cleanest city in the country. "We are aware of the situation and are working to revise our earlier sanitation plan with a change in the focus area," said Jena.

He also said besides the targeted slums, they were also set to open 17 new hybrid toilets by the end of August. These will serve the purpose of both public and community toilets. He said: "We have doubled the number of toilets in the city in the past year. This step will help us achieve the feat of becoming an open defecation-free city by the promised time."