Khonsa, Feb 5 :  Under the National Urban Sanitation Policy (NUSP), 2008 Arunachal Pradesh is preparing State Sanitation Strategy & City Sanitation Plan (CSP) for its 28 Urban Centres. 

The CSP aims at transforming the identified urban towns into 100% sanitised areas. The towns of Khonsa and Deomali have been selected from Tirap District for which the CSPs are currently under progress. A City Sanitation Task Force(CSTF) headed by the District Commissioner and comprising of members representing urban infrastructure departments, service providers, market associations, NGOs etc. has been constituted to provide guidance in preparation of these CSPs as well as provide timely feedback for implementation of the interventions recommended. 

In this context, a district level CSTF  meeting was organised at Circuit House, Khonsa on February 4. The meeting was be conducted by representatives from IPE Global Limited, New Delhi- the consultant assisting Department of Urban Development & Housing in preparation of the state CSPs. The  objective of the CSTF meeting was to brief the CSTF members on the key sanitation related issues identified for the towns and get their inputs on critical areas of concern. 

 

The meeting commenced by sharing information about CSP is and why is it needed for these towns. It was explained by the consultants that the City Sanitation Plan is a comprehensive document which details out the short, medium- and long-term plans for the issues related to governance, technical, financial, capacity building, awareness and pro-poor interventions to ensure 100% access to safe sanitation.

 These CSPs shall act as a policy cum guiding documents for achieving urban sanitation objectives aimed towards protection of environment, safe disposal of sewage, septage waste and solid waste. Discussion was undertaken on specific interventions required across all sectors including softer components such as capacity building, raising awareness, institutional framework and regulation enforcement etc.

 Detailed discussions were also undertaken on technological options for improving  access to toilet facilities, waste water management, solid waste management and drainage management at household, community/neighbourhood and overall town levels. The CSTF gave their suggestions on the feasibility of these options as well as provided recommendations to the consultants on the action points necessary to achieve the objectives of the CSP. DIPRO