Two districts of Jharkhand made it to the top 10 list to perform exceptionally in the World Toilet Day Contest 2018 organised by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS).
The results for the competition was organised on Wednesday evening in which Hazaribag and Lohardaga district made it to the 10 best performing districts. This apart, three more districts of the State including Koderma, Ramgarh and Simdega made it to the top 40 districts.
Appreciating the efforts of the districts, Chief Minister Raghubar Das congratulated them and said, “This is the success of 3.25 crore people of the State. This success will help us perform even better in future.”
The MDWS organised a 10 day contest from November 9 to 19 this year in which 412 districts from 25 states and union territories participated. The competition was organised to re-intensify the Swachch Bharat Jan Andolan at grassroot level which was led by deputy commissioners.
State drinking water and sanitation department secretary Aradhana Patnaik said, “The aim of the programme was to continue sustainability in the open defecation free villages. During the 10 days of competition, a number of programme as prescribed by centre and State were conducted in every district.”
The various programmes which were conducted included organising Swachchta Diwas, felicitating people who performed exceptionally in helping the district become ODF, organising rallies, organising special cleanliness drive in community areas, installation of bio gas plants, organising evening or night chaupals to discuss the issue of sanitation, organising painting and debate competition among kids and much more.
“The districts have to organise these programmes and upload photos on the Ministry’s web portal by November 30. The best performing districts were selected on the basis of the photographs uploaded and the work done during these 10 days,” Patnaik said.
On November 19, the occasion of World Toilet Day, a grand State level programme was organised at Hazaribag in which a number of officers from DWS department as well as the department minister Chandra Prakash Chaudhary participated. During this programme, Gobardhan scheme and Swajal Scheme were also launched. “This was also a major factor behind Hazaribag being in the top 10 list,” Patnaik said.
The department secretary congratulated the DCs and DDCs of all the districts and said, “After the ODF declaration, awareness programmes are being organised across the state by Rani Mistry (female masons), the result of which can be seen now.”