The year ending saw one of the positive news emerging out of the state. On the last day of the year state government claimed that Arunachal has become the second state in the Northeast region after Sikkim to achieve open defecation free (ODF) status. Though the national deadline for achieving ODF status is 2nd October 2019, the state government had set 31st December 2017 as deadline for achieving the target. Though the claim is being contested especially in urban areas but there is no denying that implementing agencies in particularly PHE & WS department has done tremendous job in rural areas.
The awareness created by department is having positive effect. In the last one year, the PHE &WS department has managed to create buzz about need for proper toilet by carrying out massive awareness campaign at village level. Most of the villagers in rural areas are opting for proper toilets with the assistance of PHE & WS department. The achievement of ODF status shows that if government department is sincere in implementing the government schemes, it can have desirable effect at ground level. This was for the first time that state government publicly set a deadline and worked hard to achieve it. Hopefully we will see more such target oriented projects and schemes being undertaken by government in years to come.