ITANAGAR, May 19: The Departmental review meeting of SBM (Gramin) activities was conducted today under the Chairmanship of Commissioner PHE in presence of Minister of PHE & WS, IPR, Bamang Felix, and Parliamentary Secretary PHE &WS Kumsi Sidisow.

 In his opening remarks, Chief Engineer (Sanitation) Toko Jyotigave detailed power point presentation on the present status of Defunct/Non-Existent, Insanitary & Additional household toilets which is stumbling block for the State towards achieving ODF and opined to draw a clear roadmap to achieve 100% ODF status in the State.

Felix exhorted the departmental officials to come up with concrete action plan to achieve the Open Defecation Free (ODF) status of the State by 2^nd October 2018 positively. He emphasized that mere achievement of Open Defecation Free (ODF) status should not be our only motto; sustainability issues of the toilet must also to be considered.

The Minister suggested cash rewards as an incentive to the motivator, NGOs etc. and the persons behind the successful implementation of Sanitation goals. He further announced that Rs. 10,000 (Rupees Ten Thousand) only will be provided to convert insanitary toilets to sanitary toilets. The Minister sought suggestions for strengthening the present man power resources and other support from the State Govt. to achieve ODF status one year ahead of the national target i.e. 2^nd October’2018. He urged the department to send monthly reports so that he can apprise the Chief Minister on timely basis regarding the progress of SBM-(G) which is being regularly monitored by PMO Office.

Felix announced the appointment of a motivator against each block in the State with nominal incentives initially for a period of 01 (one) year for strengthening the grassroots level workers who can directly motivate the beneficiaries based on experiences and other eligibility criteria. The Minister directed all Executive Engineers to convince the MLA of their respective constituency to contribute 10% of their MLA LAD fund for reconstruction of Defunct & Insanitary toilets.

The Chief Engineer (Sanitation) mooted the construction of Twin Pit Toilets in 60 Sub-Divisions to be implemented on experimental basis with immediate effect. He was advocating the appointment of active Nodal Officers to assist Executive Engineer in the districts for expediting ODF achievement. Further, he praised Tajum Panchayat of Balijan Block in their initiative to convert human excreta into bio-gas.

While summing up the review, HK Shalla, Commissioner (PHE & WS) urged to initiate the process to constitute Circle Level Monitoring Committee as desired by the Parliamentary Secretary. He also asked Executive Engineers of the Divisions to appoint Block Level Motivators under their supervision to help expedite the SBM-(G) Programme on a mission mode. He also asked to submit the re-verification data regarding Defunct, Insanitary Toilets & Additional Households in each of the divisions on or before 19^thJuly’ 2017 so that the balanced work can be accomplished based on these authentic data. He advised the Executive Engineers to advocate intensive IEC campaign to motivate the people to convert insanitary toilets into sanitary toilets themselves without waiting for Government Subsidy. He further advised the Zilla Swachh Bharat Preraks appointed in the districts by the Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Govt. of India, to utilize their services on districts specific problems and to assist the divisions on drawing roadmap to achieve ODF on time.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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