The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), which is responsible for construction and maintenance of community toilets, public toilets and e-toilets, is aiming for full ODF (Open Defecation Free) status and better ranking under Swachh Survekshan 2020.
While the palike had self-declared itself ODF over the past few years, it is yet to get the ODF status under the Swachh Bharat Mission. BBMP officials are confident of getting full ODF status this year, and said the civic body has fulfilled the criteria.
BBMP officials told The Hindu that one of the main criteria, apart from ensuring there is no open defecation spot in the city, is ensuring that the construction of Individual House Hold Latrines (IHHLs) is over 90% of the accepted applications. The palike, officials claimed, is close to achieving 90%. Of the 4,470 applications received this year, the civic body has approved 3,131. A total of 2,643 toilets have been constructed, they said.
Maintenance standards
The other main criteria is to ensure that community toilets and public toilets are maintained as per the mandatory parameters ( see box ).
Recently, for better management and to improve cleanliness in the city, toilets were handed over to the Solid Waste Management (SWM) Cell.
According to a circular issued by BBMP Commissioner B.H. Anil Kumar on December 6, the management of community toilets, public toilets and e-toilets will be done by the Health Ddepartment under the supervision of the SWM Cell.
BBMP’s Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) D. Randeep said that while the civic body’s old application under Swachh Bharat Mission for ODF status stands, the BBMP has a better chance this year.
“When an urban local body applies for ODF, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs will assign a team from Quality Control of India for an inspection. The team picks the locations randomly (as per a sample size) for the inspection. If all three parameters are found to be met satisfactorily during the inspection, the ODF is awarded to the ULB,” he said. However, the time and locations for the inspection are not revealed to the ULBs.
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