Saharsa (Bihar), Dec 20 - The lack of toilets is raising a stink in Bihar as it tries hard to shake off polio - a disease that spreads through the faecal-oral route. Open defecation is common practice in a majority of villages in the state's high risk northcentral regions.

"My village has a population of 9,000 and we have no toilets. I have written to the district administration several times to provide funds for the construction of toilets but have not received any reply," Meena Devi, panchayat head of Kaidli village in the Saharsa district, told IANS.

Saharsa (Bihar), Dec 12 - For months, Bina Devi, 26, had been running from pillar to post to get a ration card. And then she realised that refusing polio drops for her children could help her get it in no time.

Having realised the importance the government attaches to eradicating polio in Bihar - a polio endemic state - many people like her have begun to bargain for basic facilites by refusing polio drops to their children unless things get done.

Saharsa (Bihar), Dec 9 - One of India's polio endemic states, Bihar is eagerly awaiting the bivalent oral polio vaccine (BoPV) to protect its children from two dangerous strains of the disease. But its introduction may take time.

"We have been told that bivalent vaccine will be made available to the state by January or February next year," Hemant Shukla, regional team Leader of National Polio Surveillance Project (NPSP), told IANS.