Bhubaneswar Declared Open Defecation Free ++ City

Bhubaneswar: The Smart City Bhubaneswar has been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) ++ city.

Announcing this BMC Administrator and Director Municipal Administration (DMA) Sangramjit Nayak said following today’s declaration, the ODF ++ status will be open for third party verification.

The senior administrator from Housing and Urban Development Department said that gradually the BMC will proceed towards applying for Garbage Free Cities (GFC) Star Rating. He also asked the sanitation team of BMC to get ready for the battle of all-India ranking as the 2020 Swachha Survekshan Survey will comprise 6,000 marks.

It can be mentioned here that while the 2020 survey will involve 4830 urban local bodies this year, the GFC Star Rating will have a seven star rating programme for making Indian cities garbage free.

Stating that faecal sludge treatment plant (FSTP) at Basuaghai as one of the state-of-the art facilities, he called upon all stakeholders, including hotel associations, petrol pump owners and others, to contribute towards the city’s beautification drives and make it one of the most beautiful, clean and green cities of the country through public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

BMC Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary said, “With the ODF ++ declaration, we are also going to request our citizens to become more and more responsible to make the Temple City clean, green and a good urban habitat. We have already launched a `Go Green Campaign’ to sensitise the citizens not to create more non-biodegradable waste and they have responded positively.’’

The attending delegates were presented ‘seed card’ on the occasion. “We can start adopting small ideas like this in our daily life to create more greenery and beautify the city as well as fight climate change threats, ” the BMC commissioner said.

He informed that the BMC was already planning to develop urinals at 20 major city locations after carrying out a baseline study on the `urinating points’ and they would be ready by March 31. “Next six months after March there would be more additions to the plan,’’ he added.

There 195 toilets, including community toilets, e-toilets, Sulabh Sauchalaya and gender-neutral toilets, in the city. Last year, the BMC had decided to penalise people for open defecation (Rs 200) and urination (Rs 150 ).