5 model villages to come up in Warangal Urban dist

Warangal Urban: Five villages in Warangal urban district have been selected for upgrading them as model villages in terms of sanitation and cleanliness.  

It is aimed at constructing magic soak pits at every household in the villages along with construction of dumping yards and compost units. The project is taken up on pilot basis in the district which is declared as the first open defecation free (ODF) district in the state, last December.  

A magic soak pit, also known as a soak away or leach pit, is a covered, porous-walled chamber that allows water from household chores to slowly soak into the ground which besides ensuring cleanliness and sanitation would help in recharging ground-water table.

 In the programme titled ‘ODF plus’ and aimed at achieving healthy sanitation conditions, the villages  Shambhunipally Vangapally, Kannur and Marripalligudem of Kamalapur mandal and Kannaram of Bheemadevarapally mandal will be developed as model villages.

Speaking to The Hans India, District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) project director Thoutam Ramu informed that residents in the villages have constructed individual sanitary latrines (ISLs). Construction of magic soak pits will help to prevent discharge of waste water produced after household use into streets.

Since most of the villages do not have proper drainage system waste water from houses is often found flowing on the streets leading to several health hazards such as growth of mosquitoes and spread of viral fevers. Magic soak pits will prevent such problems.

According to the official the construction of each magic soak pit will cost around Rs 4,400 and their construction will be taken up under the MNRGES. Similarly the villagers will be distributed dust bins to collect dry and wet waste separately.

The household waste thus collected will be used to produce manure that can be used to improve the quality of the soil in the agriculture fields in the villages. “This programme will be replicated in the other villages after we achieve 100 per cent target in the above villages” informed district collector Amrapali Kata.

She said the members of Mahila Samakyas are being engaged for the success of the ODF plus. They are asked to discuss and initiate measures for the success of the programme and recently an interaction session has been conducted with the members.

The samakya members are also used to give counselling to those who are turning away from using the latrines at their houses and to lay focus on segregation of solid waste to produce manure, the collector added.

James Edwin