In Virpur village of Rajkot, a toilet constructed five years ago lies unused.
The Comptroller and Auditor General or CAG has flayed the Gujarat government over its sanitation programme, pointing out that about 5,000 angandwadis in Gujarat don't even have toilets.
The CAG has also highlighted alleged mismanagement of the sanitation programme and accused the state government of inflating achievement of targets for individual household latrines. The CAG report revealed that between 2008 and 2013, only 46 per cent of the targets had been achieved, contrary to the claims made by the government.
It also stated that over 5,000 anganwadis centres in the state lacked toilet facilities.
"As against the target of over 40, 439 toilets to be completed by 2012, only 36,438 had been completed,'' stated the report.
It further stated that the worst performing districts were Porbandar and Jamnagar, which had achieved only 47 per cent of the target. Of the 159 municipalities, only 123 had sanitary landfill facilities, which resulted in civic bodies dumping waste in the open, said the report.
The report said progress reports were generated on the basis of the funds released to gram panchayats, rather than actual construction of toilets.
On the ground, people don't seem to be surprised with the report's observations. In Virpur village of Rajkot, a toilet constructed about five years ago lies unused, since there is no water supply and no arrangements for maintaining it.
"There is no point building these toilets if you cannot provide water and maintenance. Since it has been constructed outside the village, the children are scared of snakes,'' said Shantibhai, a resident of the village.
But the state government remained evasive on the issue. "We are studying the report and we will react only after studying it," said government spokesman Nitin Patel.
The Congress has questioned the state government over the issue. "Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) should explain now. The report has clearly established that talks about sanitation and toilets being built in schools were just false claims,'' remarked Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi.
The report comes at a time when the PM has been stressing on the 'Swachh Bharat' or Clean India campaign, but in his home state, the report perhaps serves as a reminder of how challenging the task is.