Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi on Saturday announced a scheme of awards on Republic Day for the cleanest village/cleanest commune to motivate the communities for achieving the target of an Open Defecation Free (ODF) Puducherry.
Convening an action plan meeting at Raj Nivas that finalised timetable for the enclaves to achieve the ODF status, Ms. Bedi called for an intelligent networking of NGOs, corporates, students and the village communities.
“If we all work together, intelligently co-opting NGOs, corporates, students and the villagers, it would be possible for us to realise the vision of ODF Puducherry,” she said.
According to the timelines, Mahe has to turn ODF by October 31, 2016, Yanam by December 31, 2016, Karaikal by March 31, 2017 and Puducherry by October 2, 2017. NGOs were also invited to the meeting. The outlying regions of Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam were connected via video conferencing.
P. Jawahar, LAD Secretary, stated that 55,000 houses do not have toilets and this would translate into nearly 2,75,000 individual members defecating in the open.
The quantum of defecation is quite alarming and is a matter of serious health hazard. Of the 55, 000 requirement, only 1,000 toilets have been constructed.
However, the ODF movement had already begun to see a sea change in the awareness level of the common men as was best illustrated during the October 2 meeting in Sorapet village. People were coming forward to voluntarily pay for municipal services for cleanliness and sanitation, Mr. Jawahar said.
In order to achieve the target of ODF, teams have been constituted to draw up Village Open Defecation profile and collect data.
Based on the data, every commune/block will know how many toilets would be constructed, he said. A separate website is being created to co-opt student volunteers for Swachh mission.
The students could register themselves to undertake projects of choice in taking forward the Swachh mission. All they need to do is access the website and register for participation.
P.T. Rudra Gowd, Mission Director ODF, gave an overview of the toilets constructed and those to be constructed and the modus operandi that would be put in place to take forward the work on a Mission Mode.
The concern relating to ownership of land by the beneficiary was highlighted.
