Odisha Wins Big At ISC-FICCI Sanitation Awards 2022

Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: Odisha won three accolades at the Annual India Sanitation Coalition (ISC)-FICCI Sanitation Awards 2022, which were declared on Wednesday in New Delhi.

Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) was adjudged ‘Best Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM) Model – Urban’, while Sasmita Barik, a Swachha Sathi from Bhadrak municipality, won ‘Women Changemaker in Sanitation’ award and Jajpur district was awarded ‘Best Skilling Initiative in Sanitation’.

Mayor Sulochana Das and her team accepted the award for Bhubaneswar, which was awarded for its comprehensive implementation of FSSM across the value chain along with building an enabling environment by engaging multiple stakeholders and executing wide-ranging interventions in the capital city. The FSSM model has focused on community-led demand generation, strong enforcement of regulations against illegal sludge disposal, innovative ways of cesspool vehicle service delivery, optimum utilisation of the Septage Treatment Plants (SeTPs) and city-wide communication campaign, an official release said.

Twenty-six-year-old Barik was awarded for her active leadership and proactiveness in keeping the city clean and hygienic by spreading awareness among households on both Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM) and Solid Waste Management (SWM) and motivating citizens to adopt appropriate sanitation practices. She was accompanied by Additional Mission Director SBM (Urban) H&UDD, Durgesh Nandini Sahoo.

Both awards recognise Odisha’s model of decentralised and community-led sanitation.

Notably, The Housing & Urban Development Department (H&UDD) has been winning awards under various categories in the annual ISC-FICCI Awards Ceremony since 2019.

It is pertinent to mention here that ISC-FICCI Awards Ceremony and Conclave is an annual national event celebrating leaders, rising stars and organisations, who are driving growth in the sanitation value chain for achieving a ‘cleaner, healthier, safer, happier and gender-equal India’.