'Community involvement must to get rid of open defecation'

FROM OUR STAFF CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG, Sept 9: Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Dringking Water and Sanitation Choudhury Birendra Singh on Wednesday said that the Northeastern states will achieve the objective of freeing from open defection ahead of the tiol target set on October 2nd,2019. The minister was in Shillong to iugurate the tiol Consultation on Sanitation Partnership.

“This can be achieved only through involvement of the community and other stake holders to ensure the sustaibility of the programme envisaged under the Swaach Bharat Yoj,” he added.

Choudhury who spoke about the need to propagate the centrally funded sanitation programme to free the country from open defecation lamented on the partial failure initiative of the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan that failed to fully click.

“Under the old programme we have constructed six crores toilet but one crore thirty lakhs across the country are not functioning”, stated Choudhury Birendra Singh while citing at the absence of the village and community in making the programme sustaible.

Calling on the various stakeholders right from the gram panchayats to the corporate houses to be part of the effort to make ‘open defecation free’ programme effective and sustaible, the Union Minister stated, “Our Prime Minister has made an open declaration. Money is not a problem and we will address even the problems of those States that are plagued by certain fincing criteria.”

He claimed that the NDA government in its maiden year has constructed eighty lakhs toilets across the country.

On the Northeastern States, the Union Minister said, “Our target of making free from open defecation will be much quicker and it should be completed in a year time,” while alluding to the regiol scerio that is different from other States in the country.

Earlier at the iugural session, Choudhury Birendra Singh stated, “We would unleash the power of some million SHGs to work as sanitation champions and support the village communities realizes sustaible sanitation and hygiene benefits.”

Iterating the concept of partnerships as a way to promote Swaach Bharat Mission, the Union Minister added that this should come in capacity building, information exchange, and policy and strategy development that make such initiatives expand and deepen further collaboration.