Himachal Pradesh was on Friday declared the country's second open defecation-free state under the Swachh Bharat Mission, indicating that the northern state has a toilet for every individual household. The status qualifies Himachal Pradesh to receive funds under the World Bank’s Rs 9,000-crore corpus to carry on the sanitation campaign. The foreign lender will sanction money for the construction of 7,500 rural houses, reported The Indian Express.

All 12 districts of the state have been declared ODF districts. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who made the announcement, congratulated the state chief secretary, deputy commissioners, divisional commissioners, block development officers and panchayati bodies for completing the task five months before the March 2017 deadline. “Himachal Pradesh has shown the way to the country and the experience will be shared, not only within the country about strategy adopted to cover the left out households, but also internationally,” he added.

Until now, Sikkim was the only Indian state that had achieved open defecation-free status so far. Himachal Pradesh achieved this four days before Kerala is set to be declared an ODF state.