| Sat Sharma, Aggarwal felicitate Urban Local Bodies Jammu for significant achievement | | Lakhanpur, Vijaypur, Doda, Thathri towns declared ODF | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, June 13: In a significant achievement under Swachh Bharat Mission, four Urban Local Bodies of Jammu division namely Lakhanpur, Vijaypur, Doda and Thathri were simultaneously declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) towns.
According to Sushma Chauhan, Director, Urban Local Bodies Jammu, the declaration was made officially by Quality Council of India (QCI), after its rigorous audit process, which spanned across 3 continuous days at all municipalities. She said with this achievement, these 4 towns also became the first in Jammu Province to achieve ODF status.
She said it was a team effort and the Executive Officers of these four Municipal Committees, which have achieved ODF have played a significant role and displayed required leadership skills to pass through the tough ODF certification process of QCI. The preliminary stage was set for this target by focused implementation of construction target of Community Toilets /Public Toilets (CT/PT) and Individual Household Latrines (IHHL) in all 36 ULBs under Directorate of Urban Local Bodies Jammu. The strategy kicked off with formulation of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) Strategy, which was essential for information dissemination and motivating people about ODF, she said.
She further said that in order to achieve ODF status for remaining ULBs, of Jammu Province, a departmental resource team has been constituted comprising of Tariq Balwan, CEO- Doda MC, Sanjay Sharma of Thathri MC, DalipAbrol of Vijaypur MC, Ravinder Singh of Lakhanpur MC for guiding and helping other ULBs to achieve ODF Status. This team shall be fully supported by Ravinder Sharma from DULB HO. Necessary technical guidance shall be provided from Dr Bharat Bhushan, State Solid Waste cum Sanitation Expert of IPE Global AMRUT PDMC team.
It is pertinent to mention that so far, only two cities -Leh and Srinagar have been conferred by ODF status.
Felicitating the Urban Local Bodies Jammu for the landmark achievement, Minister for Housing & Urban Development (HUDD), Satpaul Sharma said it's indeed a proud moment for the entire state as this achievement shall help the state to improve its ranking considerably in the next year's Swachh Sarvekshan. |
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