Highlights
- Ranchi residents still haven’t received Rs 6,000 toilet subsidy
- 80% of the diseases occur due to littering problems
- Urban areas of Jharkhand were declared open defecation free on October 2
New Delhi: In a recently held review meeting with Ranchi Municipal Corporation, Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das directed all the municipal officials to release the toilet subsidy of people who have built toilets under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan within 15 days or else serious action will be taken incase of any delays. The chief minister asked the officials to prepare a list of wards and homes that still do not have an individual toilet. This measure comes in after the Chief Minister Das interacted with locals in ward 18 at Kalisthan road in Lower Bazaar. The locals complained about not receiving the second installment of the toilet subsidy.
The locals also raised voices against the contractors who often dump their construction waste on roadside to which the minister asked the officials to take strict action against those who violate the municipal laws, “Stern action will be taken against those, who despite warnings, drop sand and ballast alongside roads.”
Stressing on the need to bring about a behavourial change which can help Jharkhand achieve 100 per cent sanitation he said,
Changing everyone’s perception towards cleanliness can help the state accomplish its Swachh Bharat goal. The sole responsibility of cleanliness shouldn’t rely on the municipal workers. As citizens, it is our duty to keep our respective areas clean, an official release said quoting chief minister Das.
Giving an example of devotees that cause littering problems he said, “Devotees litter places of worship and at the same time also expect them to remain clean. This is absurd.”
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Linking Swastha Bharat with Swachh Bharat, the chief minister said that 80 per cent of the diseases occur due to littering problems, “If we keep our wards clean, diseases will not happen. Everyone should hate litter. We have to take a pledge that neither we will litter nor will we allow littering. Dustbins are kept in every corner of the city use them. Segregate the waste and throw them in the bins instead of simply discarding it on roads and in drains” The chief minister also gave an example of Ranchi district and said that if they can keep their villages clean why can’t the people of the city do it.
On the very same day, the chief minister also met Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL)’s chief managing director (CMD) Santosh Sharma and asked him to make the villages located on the periphery of its crushing plant free from open defecation. Funds should be released under their CSR activity to the district administration.
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“Spend half a portion of the CSR fund to turn the villages ODF. There should also be a sign board erected at the entry point of these villages to indicate that the particular village has been converted to ODF through HCL’s intervention,” he told Mr Sharma.
हिंदुस्तान कॉपर के सीएमडी संतोष शर्मा से मुलाकात में उन्हें सुझाव दिया कि अपनी माइंस के आस-पास के गांवों को #ODF बनायें। CSR के तहत खर्च की जानेवाली आधी राशि का उपयोग इस काम में करें। साथ ही स्थानीय लोगों को कौशल प्रशिक्षण देकर रोजगार से जोड़ें। pic.twitter.com/GWXcYzdVNv
— Raghubar Das (@dasraghubar) November 27, 2017
While urban areas of the state were declared ODF on October 2 on Rashtriya Swachhta Diwas, the rural areas aim to achieve this feat by March next year.
In last three years, over two lakh individual toilets and 1,527 public toilet seats and 1,211 community toilet have been constructed to make all 22 cities of Jharkhand ODF. As for the rural area, more than 15 lakh (15,54,893) toilets have been built in its villages. And only two districts – Ramgarh and Lohardaga have attained the ODF title since the inception of Clean India Mission.
