Having constructed the highest number of individual household toilets in the State, GVMC is ready to make a preliminary declaration of Visakhapatnam as open defecation-free.
“On October 2, we will make a preliminary declaration of the city as ODF. The Quality Council of India will make a certification,” Municipal Commissioner M. Hari Narayanan told media persons here on Thursday.
Of the total of 12,720 toilets planned for construction, 12,100 have been completed, including at Anakapalle and Bhimili, and some in hilly areas could not be completed.
Taken up under the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) and the Swacch Andhra Corporation, the toilets have been constructed after a survey that identified 197 open defecation points. Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) under USAID also carried out a study on the reasons for open defecation.
“Wherever it is not possible to construct IHLs, community toilets have been provided,” Mr. Hari Narayanan said. For instance, on a complaint from Gandhinagar in Zone I, a community toilet was provided there. At some places where the beneficiaries are too poor, construction has been taken up by slum-level federations or Engineering Department of GVMC.
“Once a declaration is made we get further information and some behavioural change is also necessary,” he said.
Campaign
Marking the second anniversary of SBM, a clean up of public areas in association with interested organisations would be taken up from October 2 to 15, Mr. Hari Narayanan said.
For cleaning up of identified areas like parks, beaches, playgrounds, burial grounds and cemeteries and educational institutions GVMC will extend help on request from public.
Campaign against mosquitoes and household survey by medical teams to detect and prevent incidence of fevers, mainly dengue, would continue.
Quality Council of India will make a certification, says Commissioner of GVMC
