U’khand becomes India’s fourth state to earn ODF tag
DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand has become the fourth state in the country to become Open Defecation Free (ODF) after Kerala, Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh, Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar announced on Friday.
At a function in Dehradun, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rightly stated that the Swachh Bharat Mission has become a countrywide movement. “In Uttarakhand, which has become the fourth ODF state, it (the mission) has acquired the shape of a people’s movement,” Tomar said, adding that the cleanliness mission has recorded a rapid progress in the state.
He cautioned the people that keeping a place open defecation free is easy but sustaining the ODF status was difficult. “So, you (the people as well as the government) will have to maintain sustainability of the open defecation free status which your state has earned,” Tomar said, adding that Uttarakhand would have to pay equal attention on the management of solid and liquid waste.
“I am happy to hear from district collectors that a plan is also being mooted to ensure door-todoor collection of garbage across the state.”
Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat welcomed the cleanliness tag as an important achievement for Uttarakhand, saying all rural areas falling in all 13 districts in the state had become open defecation free. “Our next target now is to ensure that all urban areas become open defecation free by the end of this fiscal,” Rawat said, explaining in detail about the hazardous impact of defecating in the open on human health and environment.
Rawat praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for initiating the Swachh Bharat Mission.
“What I appreciate about him is that whichever scheme he initiates, he ensures that it is taken to its logical conclusion,” the chief minister said, adding that it was due to the Prime Minister’s efforts that the United Nations declared International Yoga Day as a calendar event.
“Some 200 countries participated in the International Yoga Day celebrations that were organised globally on Wednesday,” he pointed out.
Scores of gram pradhans, who had come from across the state to attend the function, were felicitated. Similarly, officials facilitating implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission were also felicitated.
The Narendra Modi-led NDA government aims to make India open defecation-free by October 2, 2019.