Odisha Govt Adopts Multidimensional Approach To Achieve ODF Plus Status

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government has adopted a multidimensional approach to achieve Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus status, said Sushil Kumar Lohani, principal secretary, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department.

He was speaking at a one-day workshop on Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), organised by the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department in collaboration with UNICEF and local and national development partners in Bhubaneswar on Thursday.

The objective of the workshop was to analyse the status of progress of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), which is to ensure that everyone in the world has access to lasting and safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)
services in Odisha. The workshop also included deliberations with multiple stakeholders on strengthening, convergence, and accountability.

“More than 30% of villages have been declared as Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus in Odisha. (ODF plus village is a village which sustains its ODF status, ensures solid and liquid waste management and visually clean). Our focus is on verification of ODF Plus status. We are focusing on urban-rural convergence between Panchayati Raj
and Drinking Water (PR&DW) and Housing and Urban Development (H&D) departments to cater to the gram panchayats/villages beyond a 20 km radius of Urban Faecal Sludge Treatment Plants (FSTPs) to meet their desludging requirements,” Lohani said.

“The need of the hour is to adopt a multidimensional approach for both toilet retrofitting means converting the existing single pit toilets into twin pit toilets and Faecal Sludge Management (FSM). I am delighted that Odisha is leading these innovative approaches in the country,” he added.

B Parmeswaran, Director, Drinking Water Department, said, “Construction of individual soak pits has been the norm under Swacchh Bharat Mission (SBM-G). Odisha has also been taken it up under the ongoing Sujalam 3.0 campaign on a war footing. So far, Odisha has been successful in emerging as a top-performing state in this campaign.”

He further said “On the water front, the government provides safe and adequate drinking water to every household through the national flagship programme. The tap water connection at the doorstep has a far-reaching socio-economic impact on rural livelihood systems.”

The participants focused on sustainability of the WASH service and emphasised on systems strengthening, developing tools and frameworks, and identifying locations for qualitative data collection and convergence of partners.

Development partners like UNICEF, Water Aid, Water For People, SuSanA and IRC were also present.

“Children and their families in poor and rural communities are most at risk of being left behind. Governments must invest in their communities if we are to bridge these economic and geographic divides and realise this important human right,” said Shipra Saxena, WASH-CCES Specialist, UNICEF.