The Bhubaneswar Smart City limited (BSCl) has made Kalinga Basti under Ward-53 (Bapuji Nagar) as the first open defecation-free (ODF) slum in the Smart District.
On Sunday evening, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena took part in a Gaurav Padyatra’ (Walk of Pride) in the ward along with local Councillor Mahamaya Swain and BSCl Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Santosh Kumar Mishra to encourage the slum residents and also to inspire other slums to take up the ODF cause and make more and more areas under the Bhubaneswar Town Centre District (BTCD) free from open defecation.
All toilets in the slum were decorated with marigold flower as a mark of celebration.
In the BTCD area of the Smart City Project, 24 slums are to be made ODF as part of the BSCl initiative.
Officials of Feedback Foundation, who have been assigned for the ODF campaign in the BTCD area, were also part of the Padyatra. The approach of engaging Nigrani Committees (surveillance squads), the efforts have yielded good results in motivating community leaders, said an official release. The Nigrani Committee of Kalinga Basti has got mostly women members.
Many of the unsafe toilets were also made safe by effecting few modifications in construction and channelising the wastes into safety pits instead of open drains.
The first ODF triggering activity at Kalinga Basti had started on April 23 with the residents being made aware about the issues relating to open defecation and the health problems women and children face due to unsafe defecation in the open.