Dist should become ODF by Feb 2017

Nizamabad: Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Mission Joint Secretary Vipul Pathak said that all the states, districts, mandals and villages in the country should become open defecation free (ODF) by the end of February, 2017.

Addressing a review meeting with District Collectors through a video conference from New Delhi on Thursday, he said that the Collectors should take special interest and ensure that toilet construction works were completed by the end of February.

Every household should have an individual toilet without fail, he added. The SBM Joint Secretary said that the Union Government has taken up the Swachh Bharat Mission campaign on a prestigious note to make the country clean and tidy. The main objective of the Mission was to ensure that each and every house has a toilet so that people do not go out to attend to nature’s call, he added.

He said that toilet construction works were speeded up in all the districts and they should be speeded up further. Vipul Pathak said that toilet facilities should be provided in all the schools in the districts and villages. Otherwise, it would be difficult for the students, especially the girls and women teachers to go out for defecation. He said that dumping yards should also be set up in the villages.

He said that water harvesting pits should be dug up in newly constructed houses without fail to conserve rain water. The Joint Secretary lauded the efforts of the Nizamabad District Collector Dr Yogitha Rana for taking steps and completing 70.57 per cent of toilet construction works in the district.

Participating in the meeting, Dr Yogitha Rana said that steps were being taken fast to complete 100 per cent of toilet construction works in the district and make it ODF district.

She said that the toilet facilities were being improved in schools. Kamareddy Joint Collector, DRDA project director Ve3nkateshwarlu, RDO Chandramohan Reddy and others were present.