Firozabad fast-tracks ODF assignment

Firozabad, the district famous for its bangles, has taken up a toilet challenge.

Under it, the administration will be constructing around 1.25 lakh toilets to make the district open-defecation free (ODF) by June this year.

The speed challenge began with Shikohabad, one of the nine blocks in the district, on Monday.

In Shikohabad, the target is to make 5,000 toilets in 50 hours (10 hours per day for five days).

At the end of 20 twenty hours, 550 toilets were complete while foundation and soak pits for another 3,000 ready.

“October 2, 2018 was the government-set deadline to make the district ODF but we decided to advance it to June. This is because once the monsoon sets in, construction work becomes a constraint,” Neha Sharma, district magistrate, Firozabad.

“We have already identified the number of toilets that each block should construct to make them ODF,” Sharma said.

Prabhat Misra, assistant director of National Savings in Firozabad, who also holds the additional charge of block development officer of Shikohabad, said: “We decided to switch to mission mode after discussing the ‘speed idea’ with the district magistrate on Monday. Once we succeed in making 5,000 toilets in 50 hours, we will run two more phases in different blocks by April 30.”

To make the block ODF, the DM had set Shikohabad a target of 15,236 toilets.

“Looking at Shikohabad’s experiment, we have asked the other eight blocks to follow suit. They may tweak Shikohabad’s plan and set their own targets according to their scenario and constraints,” said Sharma.

Chief development officer (CDO) Ashok Kumar has been visiting the sites to oversee the progress of the works.

“This is the second toilet experiment Firozabad did in last six months. First one was the making of toilet parliaments to help villages identify numbers of toilets they need and then keeping them sustainable by their regular upkeep and ensuring that villagers use them,” said Kumar.