A Clean Sweep
After achieving open defecation free status, the state is well on course to ensuring piped water for all households
Odisha was a laggard in sanitation till about June 2017, with just 5 million of its approximately 9 million households having toilets. The Rs 12,000 incentive offered by the state and the Centre to construct a toilet, too, did not help. Finally, the Odisha government entrusted the project to the panchayati raj and drinking water department and work began on a war footing.
“From June 2017, construction of toilets went into mission mode,” says Subash Das, state coordinator of the Swachh Bharat Mission and joint secretary, panchayati raj. “Then, in 2018, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik started the Swachha Odisha Sustha Odisha initiative, aimed at adopting a holistic approach towards sustainable water and sanitation management.” Odisha constructed 7.7 million toilets and achieved Open Defecation Free (ODF) status by September this year. Officials have identified 391,000 new households, where construction of toilets will be completed by December.
Despite the awareness campaign against open defecation, officials have faced challenges due to attitudinal problems among people. Last month, a panchayat in Ganjam district stopped PDS rice supply to 24 families as they were found defecating in the open. Deogarh was the first district to go ODF, last year. Some 3,500 sanitation motivators from self-help groups went door-to-door to convince villagers.
Odisha’s schools, too, have an impressive record. As per the Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority (OPEPA), 52,553 schools out of the 53,276 it oversees have separate toilets for girls. “After 2014, almost all schools got separate toilets for girls. The challenge is to keep them functional,” says Bhupendra Singh Poonia, project director, OPEPA.
Around 58 per cent of the households get piped water, up from 42 per cent in March 2017. The aim is to cover all households by 2024. “In the past one year, we have undertaken 8085 mega piped water projects, each covering 300,000-400,000 people. By March 2021, we will cover at least 70 per cent of the households,” says R. Nayak, chief engineer, rural water
supply and sanitation.
Through a BASUDHA scheme, the state has invested about Rs 3,000 crore on piped water. “We have taken up projects worth Rs 24,000 crore, using mining-related funds,” says Nayak. “Our first targets are the backward mining districts, such as Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Jajpur, Jharsuguda and Mayurbhanj. We are also covering coastal areas where tubewell water is turning saline.” ■