The state's chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh directed officials to ensure that cities in the state are open defecation free (ODF) by March 31, 2018. He issued this direction while chairing the meet of the Swachchh Bharat Mission (urban) state level committee at the secretariat here on Tuesday.
It was stated in the meeting that 14 urban local bodies had been declared ODF by the Government of India. The claims of the other eight local bodies had been sent to the government of India while the submissions of 25 other local bodies are being examined.
Officials informed in the meeting that out of a total 742 wards in the state, door to door collection of garbage had been started in 534 wards. A target has been set for facilitating the collection of garbage in the remaining wards by December 2017. On the request of the state government, the Government of India had increased the financial allocation for individual toilets from Rs 4,000 per unit to Rs 10,800. Apart from this, the Hans Foundation will construct 5000 individual and 300 units of public toilets in the state.
As part of its corporate social responsibility, BHEL Haridwar will facilitate the construction of 15 public toilets comprising 276 units. Officials further informed that out of the target of 27640 individual domestic toilets, 5853 toilets had been constructed while construction of 8610 toilets is currently underway. Apart from this, 267 out of the target number of 2000 public toilets have been constructed with the construction of 35 units currently underway. Regarding the management of solid waste, officials stated that the state had prepared its solid waste management plan.
The task of turning biodegradable waste into compost has been started in 13 cities of the state. The work of making compost is under progress in Dehradun and Haridwar while work is also underway on the Haldwani and Roorkee cluster.
The urban development secretary Nitesh Jha, potable water secretary Arvind Sinha, AS Vinod Suman and other officials were also present in the meeting.