Over One Lakh Villages In India Declared ODF Plus: Odisha Among Top 5 States

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New Delhi: The Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G) on Friday recorded another milestone with 1,01,462 villages declaring themselves as ODF (open defecation free) Plus. The top five performing states are Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh where maximum number of villages have been declared as ODF Plus.

Almost eight years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Mission, with a vision to make the country open defecation free as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary.

One lakh ODF Plus villages is no small achievement, given that the process of solid and liquid waste management is technical in nature, is relatively new to rural India and is a second-generation issue.

Provision of toilets has led to the need to manage faecal waste. Also, with potable water supply, more greywater is being generated that needs to be treated and reused; and with lifestyle changes and the use of packaged food products, the menace of plastic waste is rearing its ugly head in rural areas and that needs to be managed effectively.