To make the district free from open defecation, government offices and non-governmental organizations conducted a campaign to build toilets in households from 2068/69. The monitoring program was also carried out by forming a committee. Millions were spent in the campaign when they provided cement, pans and the cost of digging ditches to the houses that did not have toilets and were in poor financial condition.

On June 17, 2073, Salyan was declared free of open defecation by conducting a comprehensive program under the coordination of the then Water and Sanitation Office, Salyan. It's almost 9 years since the announcement. Ironically, still more than a thousand houses in Salyan are without toilets .

According to the 2078 census, there are 54 thousand 701 households in Salyan. Among them, 1 thousand 83 houses still do not have toilets. According to the municipal level data of the district, there are 126 houses in Sharda Municipality, 225 in Bangad Kupinde Municipality, 28 in Bagchaur Municipality, 60 in Kapurkot Rural Municipality, 88 in Triveni, 226 in Kalimati, 87 in Siddhakumakh, 87 in Kumakh, 81 in Chhatreshwari and 75 in Darma Rural Municipality. According to

data, there are 38 thousand 832 houses with septic tanks in the district. There are 1,436 public sewers, 13,238 common toilets and 83 public toilets. Some of the toilets built during the

campaign are not fast but have become dilapidated in a short time and are unusable due to lack of sufficient water . Some of them are used for keeping grass. 

According to the census of 2078, there are still more than a thousand houses without toilets in the district, but the municipality does not yet have the data on how many houses do not have toilets. The local level, which has been conducting various programs for sanitation and free defecation from time to time, has not shown much interest in building new houses without toilets. Locals say that after the announcement, the relevant body is silent, and without the help of donors, it is not possible to spend a lot of money to build a toilet. During the

campaign, the concerned bodies provided pans and cement and built toilets around 2071, but the drinking water crisis started in the slums. Durga Bahadur Rawat of Kalimati Rural Municipality-1 Lakshmipur Kot said that due to having to walk for an hour and a half to reach the river to fetch a gallon of water, the toilets have become unusable. He says that due to the water problem, 20 families of the settlement were forced to go to the forest to defecate. Water brought after a long walk is good for cooking and drinking. To take a bath and wash clothes, you have to go down. "No one thinks about bringing water for toilets," he said, adding, "Most of the toilets are not only unused but now dilapidated." Because everyone's financial situation is weak, no one has been able to build a new one . If they feel defecation, everyone runs to the forest near their house.

Lal Bahadur Ghartimar, president of Bangad Kupinde Municipality-12, said that although there are 600 households in the ward, more than a dozen households with poor financial conditions and elderly people do not have toilets. He says that despite repeated requests to build the toilet, he refused to build it due to lack of finances. He said that pollution has started spreading as all those who do not have toilets are urinating in the open.

Ravilal Basnet, Chairman of Kalimati Rural Municipality-1, said that in the ward with 800 households, more than two dozen houses do not have toilets and even those that do have toilets cannot be used due to lack of water. He says that due to the lack of health awareness, the locals are not interested in building toilets. "Due to the lack of water, the toilets of many people who are not using them have been turned into a place to keep firewood," he said.

Yagya Bahadur Basnet, Head of Health Branch of Darma Rural Municipality, said that after the implementation of the Suswa project in the municipality, the sanitation program is underway. "Through the program, preparations are being made to make toilets in every house by putting local people to work," he said. He said that out of 4 thousand 80 households in the municipality, 75 houses are without toilets.

Chief Administrative Officer Jagat Bahadur Gharti said that although 225 houses in Bangad Kupinde municipality were found to be without toilets, he did not know yet. 

Anup Shrestha, Head of Water Supply and Energy Development Office, Salyan, says that many houses may be without toilets due to increased number of households compared to before. "This year we will analyze the situation on what basis open defecation was announced in the past and why many houses were left without toilets recently," he said.