Patna: Around 96 lakh households in rural areas of Bihar do not have toilets and people travel to far-flung areas to relieve themselves under the open sky, a survey said.
According to the survey conducted by the state Public Health Engineering Department, about 95.96 lakh households, out of which 49.19 lakh belong to Below Poverty Line (BPL) category, still do not have toilets at their homes.
However, the government has speeded up the pace of construction of toilets, the survey said.
The report suggests that private toilet facilities were available to around 90,400 BPL families in Bihar during 2004-05. But, after the Nitish Kumar government came to power in November 2005, the pace of construction of toilets speeded up and now altogether 12.70 lakh BPL families are enjoying toilet facilities at their homes.
The number of toilets at community centres, state-run schools and anganbari centres too has increased since then, the report said.
The state government is offering a grant of Rs 1,700 to every BPL family for adding toilets in their huts, sources said.