The Andhra Pradesh government’s sanitation programme, flagged off by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, has gathered steam with garbage collected directly from rural households hitting 61.5% by the end of January. The figure stood at 22% by the end of November. The Clean Andhra Pradesh (CLAP)-Jagananna Swachha Sankalpam programme aims to clean up rural areas, improve sanitation, and waste management with participation of the public. Rural households have been instructed to hand over the garbage to collectors instead of disposing of those on the streets.
Reddy flagged off the project on October 2 with 4,097 garbage collecting vehicles. Several gram panchayat officials have already shared visuals of garbage-free village roads. Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy told The Indian Express that the state would achieve all targets under CLAP, including 100% rural household garbage collection, by October.
Apart from door-to-door garbage collection, the campaign aims to segregate liquid and solid waste, onsite treatment, and encourage home composting. Another major initiative is to make rural areas open defecation free (ODF). Over 13,000 sarpanches have been instructed to lead the open defecation free campaign and ensure that their villages achieved ODF Plus status by 2022.
An ODF Plus village is one that sustains its ODF status, ensures waste management (both solid and liquid) and is visually clean. The state government wants Andhra Pradesh to become litter- and garbage-free by the end of 2022. It has also undertaken a complex project that involves sewage water treatment at 582 locations using soil bio-technology and wetland treatments and waste stabilisation ponds.
Ahead of the launch of CLAP, over 13,000 sarpanches and 1,200 district and mandal officials took part in an online training programme, conducted by UNICEF WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene), on the sanitation drive. The government has deployed workers and officials from the gram panchayat, health workers, members of village and ward secretariats, and Zilla and Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency members.
However, despite a target to cover all households under the door-to-door collection campaign by October, officials told The Indian Express that it was difficult to maintain total cleanliness. They highlighted the irresponsible behaviour of many people who continue to litter the streets.
Ramachandra Reddy said the objectives of waste segregation and sewage water treatment were also being met slowly.
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