7 Odisha Dists To Be Covered Under Urban-Rural Convergence On Faecal & Plastic Waste Management

Bhubaneswar: Seven districts of Odisha will covered under the Urban-rural convergence on Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSM) and Plastic Waste Management (PWM) in the first phase.

A Letter of Understanding (LoU) in this regard was signed between the departments of Housing and Urban Development and the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water (PR&DW), UNICEF and Centre for Policy Research (CPR) here on Monday.

The initiative aims to ensure district-wide sanitation through urban-rural convergence for FSM and PWM in the districts of Angul, Balasore, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Khurda, Mayurbhanj and Sambalpur.

The programme will be scaled up to all districts in the state subsequently, said HUD Minister Pratap Jena. This intervention is a step towards building “Swachh Odisha and Sustha Odisha”,  dream of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Odisha has implemented decentralised waste management in 114 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), said Jena.

The gram panchayats will now be tagged to urban facilities like Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant (FSTPs) and Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) for effective faecal sludge and plastic waste management which will strengthen both Panchayatiraj Institutions (PRIs) and ULBs. This will also ensure prevention of river and ground water pollution and environmental protection through a district wide sanitation approach, the Minister informed.

Chief Secretary SC Mahapatra said the government has operationalised 58 FSTPs and by March 2022, all the 114 ULBs will be covered with 118 functional plants.

Among others, Principal Secretary, HUD G Mathi Vathanan; Principal Secretary, PRDW, Ashok Kumar Meena; President, CPR, Yamini Aiyer; Chief Field Officer, UNICEF Odisha, Monika Nielsen and Director, Municipal Administration (DMA) and Mission Director (SBM-U) HUDD Sangramjit Nayak were present.