Punjab’s Moga is among the two districts, selected by the Central Government under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) from across the country, to make its villages free of liquid and solid wastes. The second district belongs to Odisha.

To start preparations in this regard, Moga Deputy Commissioner Kulwant Singh held a meeting with the officials of the Panchayat Department and other departments and issued instructions.

Singh said that the work will be implemented jointly by the Water Supply and Sanitation Department and Panchayati Raj Department and MGNREGA. “Under this project, the waste generated in rural areas — whether it is solid or liquid — will be managed as per the instructions of the Swachh Bharat Mission. The Water Supply and Sanitation Department has been given the responsibility of implementing this project while the Rural Development and Panchayat Department and Panchayati Raj Department will prepare their complete layout plan,” he said.

The Deputy Commissioner said that under this project, the wet and dry waste of the houses from each village of Moga district will be collected door to door and brought to the solid waste management site. “Compost will be prepared from the wet waste generated from the kitchen. Plastics and other reusable wastes will be recycled and other wastes falling under the hazardous category will be destroyed as per norms. Similarly, liquid waste from houses will be put in ponds, and this water will be prevented from falling into the canals and rivers through drains, and tributaries,” he said.

Likewise, it has been made mandatory to connect every house with a toilet facility and to have public toilets in the villages.

“Every house will be connected with a tap and clean water facility. The ponds in the villages will be cleaned and the rainwater will be properly managed. To provide full benefits to the residents of Moga district of this project,” Deputy Commissioner instructed the concerned departments to complete the related activities in a time-bound manner.

DC said that the people should be made aware of this project, and the operation and maintenance of the solid waste management project will have to be done by the Gram Panchayat. At the same time, he also appealed to the residents of Moga district to cooperate to make this project a success.