Bhubaneswar, Oct. 17: In an urban development ministry poster, a child asks his father: "What is the use of a new couch at home when we are going to sit on the railway tracks?"
The word "sit" written on the poster stands for "squat", sarcastically mentioning the prevailing problem of open defecation in the city - that has recently been tagged as the "smartest" in a central government survey.
As repeated appeals and door-to-door awareness programmes against the practice of open defecation have not yielded any expected results, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has now decided to go with multimedia campaign to fight the issue. It will shortly launch "Asli Tarakki" under the Swachh Bharat Mission to ensure complete sanitation in the city.
The corporation has identify 12 of the all 67 wards where open defecation is rampant, mainly because of the existence of a number of slums. Some of the main slums include Salia Sahi, Haldipadai, Sundarpada, Patna Sahi, Jadupur, Puruna Sahi, Dumduma, Nua Bhoi Sahi, Tarini Basti, Kela Sahi, Bhagabati Basti, Mati Sahi, Kusapadia Sahi and more.
According to the campaign guidelines, the corporation will put up banners and posters across the city referring to the benefits of urban sanitation. The campaign will mainly focus on educating people about the ill effects of open defecation.
The aim here is to ensure that the city is free from open defecation, which is one of the important components of the Swachh Bharat Mission. The corporation is aiming to improve their rank in the forthcoming Swachh Survekshan II with the present move.
"The urban development ministry has prepared some posters in this regard in Odia and seven other national languages and asked us to print the same and put those up at vulnerable locations. Once the festive season gets over, we will start putting up the posters at the identified places," said a civic body official.
According to the Union ministry's guidelines, the corporation will put up such posters on walls along railway tracks, near forest areas and water bodies.
Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said the upcoming multimedia campaign would be taken up in full spirit. "We got directives from the Union ministry about the launch of the national-level campaign. We are happy that the ministry has prepared the posters in Odia. We will put up the posters. It will definitely bring a change," said Jena.
"The city is now smart, so it is time for the people to get smart. They need to understand the bad impact of open defecation for the betterment of environment. Recently jaundice had hounded the residents. The reason cited by experts was faecal contamination, which is a result of open defecation. It should be checked," said Damana resident Jayant Mishra.
In another move, the civic body is also planning to bring in a revised city sanitation plan and targets to declare it free from open defecation by March 2018. At present, the officials are distributing work orders at various slum settlements for construction of individual household latrines. So far, nearly 2,000 such latrines have been constructed.
"The municipal officials are distributing work orders for construction of latrines, but they are irregular in it. There are nearly 300 households in our slum, but only 200 houses here have got the benefit. What will happen to the remaining 100? Also they are providing a mere Rs 5,000 for the purpose, which is indeed not enough," said Palasuni resident Tutu Mohanty.
On this, a senior civic body official said the amount for the individual household latrine was fixed according to the Swachh Bharat Mission guidelines. "An individual household latrine with thatched roof could easily be constructed from the given amount. Moreover, we are getting the fixed amount from the Union government and distributing the same to the beneficiaries. It is not feasible to provide more money from our annual budget," said the official.
