Chennai, April 27, 2012: Perturbed by the fact that 73.3 per cent of rural households in the State are still resorting to open defecation, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has hiked the State's contribution to families willing to construct a toilet by Rs.1,500.

Making a suo motu statement in the Assembly on Thursday, Ms. Jayalalithaa said under the Total Sanitation Project, the Centre was granting Rs.2,200 and the State Rs.1,000, thereby limiting the beneficiary's contribution to Rs.300.

Chennai, April 23, 2012: An important scheme to improve the health and lifestyle of residents in rural pockets around Tambaram and also to improve access to proper sanitation is in disarray owing to neglect on the part of State government agencies.

Chennai, April 14, 2012: If the Integral Coach Factory has its algorithm right, there will very soon be no smelly toilets on trains. This innovation should make train travel a more pleasant affair. But the absence of smell is only the by-product. The new bio toilets developed by Railways design engineers will do away with manual scavenging on trains and add to the life span of the tracks. The new toilet will have a collection tank fitted with anaerobic bacteria to decompose faecal matter completely.

Chennai, Jan 29, 2012: Village panchayats that achieve 100 per cent sanitation coverage in individual households and schools, and are free from open defecation, will be given an incentive of Rs.5 lakh. In each district, one village panchayat will be chosen.