Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Jul 25: The Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2018, an initiative to survey cleanliness of rural areas, was formally launched by Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Wednesday.
Under the Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2018, cleanliness survey of rural areas across the state will be undertaken from 1 to 31 August, especially at schools, anganwadis, PHCs, haat bazaars, and religious places, following which, the cleanest village and district will be awarded on 2 October.
The survey is an initiative of the central government, which is a first of its kind, wherein cleanliness survey of rural areas will be conducted across all 698 districts and about 800 lakh rural population of the nation.
After the survey, rankings of states and districts will be undertaken on the basis of qualitative and quantitative SBM (G) parameters.
The rural community will also be engaged in improvement of its sanitation status through an intensive information education and communication (IEC) campaign, and citizens will be further engaged in terms of village meetings, group discussions, online feedback and personal interviews, for their feedback and recommendation on improving the programme.
Speaking at the launch programme of the Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2018, PHED & WS Minister Wangki Lowang emphasised on creating awareness. Pointing out that sanitation is directly related to health, he sought cooperation from every stakeholder for proper implementation of the programme.
Stressing on taking up the issue of plastic usage in the, he highlighted the lacuna in proper disposal system of plastic waste, and asked the authorities concerned to initiate measures to tackle it.
Chief minister Pema Khandu in his deliberation asked the executing agency to take the programme in mission mode, and hoped that the programme will receive similar support from the stakeholders.
Further, PHED & WS Chief Engineer (WZ) Toko Jyoti, who was the former mission director of SBM (G), informed that as per the Quality Council of India (QCI) report, the state ranks fourth cleanest state in the country under Gramin category.
He, however, informed that the ranking is not official yet, but has been derived after taking into consideration all the parameters involved.
The chief engineer informed that as per the QCI report, the accessibility of toilets to the rural masses in the state is above the national average. The national average stands at 62 percent, whereas the state’s average is 72 percent. Similarly, the functionality of the toilets constructed in the state stands at 98 percent, whereas the national average is 91.29 percent. Also, the no littering status in rural areas in the state stands at 87 percent, while the national average is 60 percent as per the QCI report, he added.
Informing that the only area where the state is lagging behind the national average is the stagnation of waste water, which stands at 85 percent as against the 93 percent in national average, Jyoti hoped that it could be improved in days to come.
Furthermore, the chief engineer informed that they have constructed over one lakh toilets under the SBM (G) which have already been verified and 100 percent geo-tagged.