STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: The UT of J&K has achieved another milestone of declaring 6000 Villages as Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus in the Aspiring category under the “Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen.” This has been possible due to strong leadership and support provided at all levels.
These villages are sustaining the ODF Plus status and have systems in place for managing Solid or Liquid waste. The villages have progressed beyond constructing and using toilets to attain cleanliness and adequate sanitation in their villages, hence moving from ODF to ODF Plus.
In its efforts to ensure that all the villages have minimal litter and an adequate system in place to manage waste, the Directorate of Rural Sanitation, department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has taken many initiatives. One such major step in this arena is the initiation of the process of door to door collection in many panchayats where waste is being collected from HHs for its scientific disposal.
In some areas people have even started paying users charges for the waste collection services being provided to them. The department has also put in place assets at Households and Community level for processing Solid and Liquid wastes.
As of now the department has created 59407 Individual compost pits, 309558 individual soak pits, 7138 Community Compost Pits and 20958 Community Soak Pits.
As many as 75 villages have been declared as ODF Plus Model villages. A number of segregation sheds have also been constructed and machinery such as Baling Machines, Shredders have been installed in some of these segregation sheds for scientific processing of the waste.
Since SBM (G) is a people’s campaign, IEC plays an extremely important role for its success. The department is holding various activities in each district such as Nukkad nataks, Plog runs, painting competitions, rallies, debates etc, to persuade people to realize their role and responsibilities in Swachhata Campaign and understand the benefits accruing from following the right sanitation practices.
Apart from IEC activities, Capacity building programs are being organized on a regular basis at the Divisional, District and Panchayat Level where ToTs have been trained to further impart training at Panchayat level on various components of SBM (G). Elected representatives of panchayats are taking the lead in their respective panchayats in the area of sanitation and making constant efforts to enhance people’s involvement to attain the goal of “Sampoorna Swachhata”. PRIs of the UT of J&K who are doing exceptionally good are also being appreciated for their efforts at the national level. The Department of Rural Sanitation is planning and making continuous efforts to make all villages as ODF Plus in Model Category along with ensuring sustainability of assets already created with active involvement of PRIs, general public, youth etc.
