Strive hard to build clean villages

Mysuru: Additional Chief Secretary of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department (RDPR) LK Atheeq said that all the officials should work hard to make the villages look clean and beautiful by giving more emphasis on gray water management and solid waste management at the village panchayat level.

Addressing officials at the Swach Bharath Mission and Jal Jeevan Mission progress review meeting recently, he said that in the early days of the Swachh Bharat Mission project the construction of toilets in every house in rural areas was an important goal and we have achieved this goal by 2019.

Even now in some villages there are toilets in the house but there are many men who go outside. He said that they should be made aware and persuaded to use the toilet. Every village should be hygienic. In rural areas, toilet and daily gray water should be disposed of scientifically. He said the drains should be constructed scientifically and the waste water should be absorbed in the percolating pits. In this regard cleanliness should be considered as the first agenda in every village meeting. He said officials should discuss with the Gram Panchayat members about garbage collection, sorting, use of cleaning vehicles and suggested that if there is a problem, they should find a solution soon.

Clean Saturday program should be celebrated more effectively and people should be made aware of cleanliness. Unsanitary conditions rapidly affect children's health. This will affect their academic life. He also said that it will adversely affect the health of the elderly.

The construction of solid waste disposal unit in each gram panchayat must be completed by the end of the current financial year. Until then, he instructed the executive officers to take action to continuously collect and sort waste in temporary sheds. Commissioner of Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation Department, Gangadhara Swamy said that taps should be installed in every house under Jal Jeevan Mission Yojana. He said that every villager should be aware of the fixed time of water release in the villages.

In the meeting, Deputy Secretary of RDPR Mahesh, Chief Executive Officers of Mysuru, Dakshina Kannada, Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu, Mandya, Mysore, Hassan, Chamarajanagar, Udupi Districts, Nodal Officers, Executive Engineers, Executive Officers and others were present.