National Planning Workshop on ODF Plus and Water Conservation

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : With over 5.6 lakh villages, 622 districts, and 30 States/UTs declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) in rural India under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen), the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Jal Shakti, organized a two-day National Planning Workshop on ODF Plus and Water Conservation on July 12-13, 2019, in New Delhi. Secretaries-in-Charge of Sanitation, Mission Directors and other key state level officials from 29 states/UTs attended the workshop.

Speaking at the occasion, Rattanlal Kataria, Minister of State, Ministry of Jal Shakti, said, “In 2014 ,the Prime Minister introduced the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) and now, because of people’s contribution, we are moving towards the 100% success of this Mission in October 2019. Moving on to the Jal Shakti Abhiyan, just like SBM, we aim to make the Jal Shakti Abhiyan a successful jan andolan, with the help of the people.”

Kataria launched the Solid Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) Dashboard, ODF-Plus Advisory and the ODF-Plus & Swachh Gram Darpan Mobile Application to foster healthy competition between States and districts undertaking ODF-plus activities.

The Workshop was organised around five thematic technical sessions : Biodegradable Waste Management in Rural Areas, Plastic Waste Management in Rural Areas, Grey Water Management in Rural Areas, Fecal Sludge Management (FSM) in Rural Area and Water Conservation & Rain Water Harvesting respectively. As part of the workshop, an exhibition was also held at ICAR Campus, Delhi, demonstrating various initiatives under ODF-Plus and field visits were conducted with all the participants to highlight the importance of water conservation, according to a PIB release.

A highlight of the workshop was an interaction with Ayyappa Masagi, Founder and Director, Water Literacy Foundation, who presented different methods for rainwater harvesting, collection and water conservation. He spoke of the importance of Grey Water Management and called it as effective as rainwater harvesting for water conservation. He presented Karnataka’s case of ensuring rainwater harvesting, which can be replicated in other states to conserve water and secure a better future for the nation.