A one-month-long national sanitation campaign was launched by the Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation on September 25 in the district here. It will continue till October 23.
Rayagada ADM laxmikanta Behera flagged off a well designed “Parimala Rath” to go around every nook and corner of the district. The vehicle covered with banners and audio systems will traverse the interior pockets of the district with well-trained announcers.
Rayagada district consists of eleven blocks, 171 gram panchayats and 2,556 villages. Though this seems to be mammoth task, the Rath will mostly cover the panchayat headquarters and clusters of villages around it.
“The primary objective of the campaign is to make the rural people aware of the advantages of use of toilet, individual household latrine (IHl), personal hygiene, proper storage of drinking water, solid and liquid waste management and waterborne diseases, etc. The ill effects of open defecation will be explained to the people. The message that the Government will contribute Rs 10,900 towards construction of an IHl will also be spread among the communities,” said AEE RWSS ATB Sankaram.
Initially the Parimala Rath will cover the villages of Rayagada block. After the Dussehra festival, the campaign will be accelerated in other blocks of Rayagada, he informed. “The State Health and Family Welfare department also has taken up a similar campaign called MDD-Malaria, Dengue and Diarrhoea throughout the district. As all these diseases are water borne, a coordination between the District Water and Sanitation Mission(DWSM) and H and FW department is need of the hour”, said social activist Pradipta Senapati. During the inaugural function of the campaign, many staff of the collectorate, RWSS and Rayagada College Principal SK Tripathy among others were present.