Srinagar, Aug 18: Jammu and Kashmir has achieved another milestone of declaring all its 6,650 villages as ODF Plus Model under Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin after sustained efforts over the past six months.
Charandeep Singh, Director, Rural Sanitation, said that the J&K has put in place effective systems for the management of solid and liquid waste which have contributed to visual cleanliness and minimal litter in these villages.
“The UT was declared ODF Plus Model on August 14 2023, owing to the initiatives of the Dept. of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (J&K) which include not just asset creation but also a campaign of behavioural change that helped achieve this otherwise challenging objective,” he said.
As per the IMIS of the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), J&K’s SBM-G assets include 1850 waste collection and segregation sheds; 23,393 community soak pits; 11,667 community compost pits, 3 plastic waste management units; 5486 community sanitary complexes; and 20 GOBARdhan plants.
Throughout Phase II of the SBM Gramin campaign, J&K carried out many innovative campaigns like Swachhata Karwaan, Pink Toilets to improve school attendance, Zero Landfill Shri Amarnathji Yatras, Give Polythene Get Gold campaign, pink societies to promote holistic development, Sarpanch Samvads, Swachhata internship, Swachhata quiz and setting up GOBARdhan units.
“It was through all such initiatives, along with concerted efforts of the Department, support of the people, and elected representatives in panchayats that the UT was successful in attaining the ODF Plus Model status,” Charandeep said.
“This is a remarkable achievement for the department. We have already started to set patterns in villages like grey water management, solid waste management, plastic waste management and capacity building of the community by their involvement and this is the culmination of that,” he said.
“Now we have reached the Model category which means that there are waste management facilities in the villages or in clusters with other villages. Today, if we ask any villager , they are well informed about technical aspects like soakage pits, waste segregation, and processing,” he said.
Charandeep said earlier they requested people to announce in Mosques, Temples about management of waste and follow the principles of “reuse, reduce and recycle.”
He said that sanitation is an issue that can’t be sorted once for all, rather it is a day to day matter and the sustainability part is going to be a challenge.
Charandeep said they will be shifting the ownership of the already-made assets to the community through the Panchayat Raj Institutions.
“We have Sustainable Development Goal 6 which is about “clean water and sanitation for all”. While working on SBM-G we are looking at attaining the status as is required in SDG-6. The challenge would be to sustain the efforts. For sustaining the efforts we have launched a behavioural change campaign in villages,” he said.
Earlier this year, all 6,650 villages spanning across 20 districts and 285 blocks in Jammu and Kashmir were declared ODF Plus under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) 2.0. This milestone reflects the successful efforts to improve sanitation and hygiene in the region.
