All 6,650 Villages Of Jammu And Kashmir Declared Open Defecation Free Plus

In a significant milestone for Jammu and Kashmir under the Swachh Bharat Mission, all of its 6,650 villages have been declared open defecation-free plus model, officials said here on Saturday.

This achievement is a significant milestone as it goes beyond constructing and use of toilets towards cleanliness by managing greywater and solid waste in each village, they said.

The union territory has declared all its 6,650 villages across 285 blocks in 20 districts as open defecation-free (ODF) Plus Model, they said.

J-K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said the achievement underlines coordinated efforts of all to improve the quality of life for citizens.

"Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 100 per cent J-K villages have achieved the ODF Plus status in 'Model' category under Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) phase-II. This achievement underlines coordinated efforts of all to improve the quality of life for citizens," Mr Sinha said in a post on X.

For a village to achieve the ODF Plus Model status, it has to go through three stages of ODF Plus -- Aspiring, Rising and Model.

When a village has achieved visual cleanliness with minimal litter and stagnant water, apart from the solid and liquid waste management and adequate information, education and communication (IEC) activities, it is declared as an ODF Plus Model.

The officials said the rural sanitation department made a comprehensive plan, which was meticulously knitted in bringing all the stakeholders on board before execution of the same to achieve the milestone.

The department made Village Sanitation Saturation Plans (VSSP) for each village to ensure it has assets available for solid and liquid waste management, they said.

Based on the plans, for greywater management i.e. water generated from the kitchen, bathing etc., soak pits, magic and leach pits have been developed by the departments at household and community-level.

They said 3,53,631 individual soak pits and 23,781 community soak pits have been constructed by the department. Wherever kitchen gardens are available, people have been motivated to dispose of greywater through the kitchen gardens.

For biodegradable waste management, individual and community compost pits have been constructed, the official said, adding that 1,37,824 individual compost pits and 12,118 community compost pits have been constructed either by the department or by people themselves in their households.

People are being encouraged to segregate the waste and process wet waste in compost pits. Also, 1,850 waste collection and segregation sheds have been constructed for the proper disposal of waste. Besides, 536 community sanitary complexes have also been constructed in J-K, they said.

Plastic Waste Management Units (PWMU) are being established in each block, some of which are in the final stage of completion. The plastic in these centres would be cleaned, shredded and bailed for its final disposal. The complete life cycle of the waste is properly managed, they said.

Throughout Phase 2 of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) campaign, J-K has carried out many innovative campaigns and initiatives such as "Pink Toilets" to improve school attendance, zero-landfill Amarnath Yatra, 'Give Polythene Get Gold' campaign, 'pink societies' to promote holistic development, Sarpanch Samvads, Swachhata internship, Swachhata quiz and Swachh Yodha Pratiyogita, the officials said.

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