Bhubaneswar, Oct. 10: The civic body plans to launch the 'Swachh Souchalaya' campaign to focus on cleanliness in public toilets.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to organise the campaign following a direction from the ministry of urban development which is focussing on stopping open urination and open defecation, a key objective of the Swachh Bharat Mission.

'Public toilets play a critical role in providing safe sanitation to the urban population and help eradicate open urination and open defecation. It has been observed that more than physical construction of public toilets, it is their maintenance that poses a challenge, preventing their sustenance and regular usage,' the direction reads.

The ministry has prescribed the way the campaign should be carried out to attain its objectives. The civic body has been asked to rope in cricket clubs, students and tag them as cleanliness agents. These agents will be provided with postcards, which they will distribute among users for behaviour change.

'We received the directions from the ministry, but have different plans to ensure the success of the campaigns. We have started appointing swachhagrahis or cleanliness agents in each ward. They will be provided with leaflets and postcards encouraging users to use the public toilets,' said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

Jena said that they had been saying time and again that true progress in cleanliness can only be made through partnership.

'We need the support of each and every citizen to maintain cleanliness of the city. Achieving cleanliness will remain a distant dream without them. We have targeted the urban poor since they need to be taught first, but others should realise their civic sense as well,' said the mayor.

Besides bringing in behavioural change among citizens to use public toilets in a proper manner under the campaign, the civic body has also been planning to form a squad that will make surprise visits to the public toilets to keep a check on their cleanliness parameters.

At present, the civic body has 88 public toilets with introduction of 23 new such facilities during Local Self-Government Day celebrations this year. Moreover, the corporation and Sulabh International are on the verge of completing work on another 35 such facilities in various parts of the city.

'Constructing toilets is easy. But it is difficult to maintain the toilets and make people aware on their proper usage,' said Unit-III resident Sitakanta Acharya.