5.66 lakh villages out of nation's 5.86 lakh sustaining ODF status: MoS

New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) As many as 5.66 lakh villages out of a total of 5.86 lakh villages have been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus till August 13, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Monday.

Minister of State for Jal Shakti V. Somanna, in a written reply, said an ODF Plus village is defined as a village which sustains its Open Defecation Free (ODF) status, ensures solid and liquid waste management and is visually clean.

He said Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of 94,636 ODF Plus villages, followed by 50,772 in Madhya Pradesh, 45,083 in Odisha, 42,781 in Rajasthan, 38,300 in Maharashtra and 37,178 in West Bengal.

Sharing the procedural details of claiming ODF Plus village status, MoS Somanna said a village that has met all the ODF Plus criteria will self-declare itself ODF Plus at a Gram Sabha meeting.

He said there are three categories (Aspiring/Rising/Model) of ODF Plus villages.

The district must ensure mandatory third-party verification of a village, within 90 days of ODF Plus declaration for the first time, he said.

The mandatory third-party verification will be undertaken for ODF Plus (Model) villages only; however, supervisory verification may be done for the ODF Plus villages across all three categories (Aspiring/Rising/Model) by the officers responsible in the chain of command at Block/District/State levels.

He said an ODF Plus Aspiring village is one which is sustaining its ODF status and has arrangements for Solid Waste Management OR Liquid Waste Management.

An ODF Plus Rising village is one which is sustaining its ODF status and has arrangements for both Solid Waste Management and Liquid Waste Management, he said.

An ODF Plus Model village is one which is sustaining its ODF status and has arrangements for both Solid Waste Management and Liquid Waste Management; observes visual cleanliness like minimal litter, minimal stagnant wastewater, no plastic waste dump in public places; and displays ODF Plus Information, Education and Communication (IEC) messages, the MoS said.

Somanna said sanitation is a State subject and the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation provides Financial and technical support to States.

He said the Phase II of Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) [SBM(G)] is being implemented between 2020-21and 2025-26, with the focus on ODF sustainability and to cover all the villages with solid and liquid waste management - converting the villages from ODF to ODF Plus (Model).

Realising that the task of constructing toilets is a continuous process and not a one time activity, as there are continuously new emerging households, migrant households which will require toilets, construction of new Individual House Hold Latrines (IHHLs) continues to be the first charge on SBM(G) funds under Phase-II of the Mission, the MoS said.

--IANS

rch/dan