Dehradun achieved the status of ODF++ under Swachchh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) and became the first city to achieve it in Uttarakhand. In addition to this, six other towns achieved ODF + status.
The list informing about this was released on Tuesday night. This Open Defecation Free ++ status will also bring the city 500 points in the Swachchh Survekshan 2020, said the Dehradun mayor Sunil Uniyal ‘Gama’.
He also felicitated the Dehradun municipal commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey. According to deputy municipal commissioner of Dehradun, Rohitash Sharma, “The credit for this achievement goes to the municipal commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey and the team formed by him which worked really hard to achieve this status.
We also achieved number one ranking in the state according to the online feedback in Swachchhata app for Swachchh Survekshan which is all due to the efforts of the MCD.”
“This status of ODF ++ will also give the city 500 points in the Swachchh Survekshan 2020 which will be helpful in achieving a better ranking in the country,” added Sharma. Apart from Dehradun, ODF + certification was granted to Bhimtal, Swargashram, Dugadda, Pauri, Dharchula and Roorkee. Informing about the ODF status, Sharma said that currently there are three categories; ODF, ODF + and ODF ++. The ODF ++ is the highest status among these three which is given to the city that besides being free from open defecation also has well functional public toilets and well managed sewer system. The survey for ODF ++ was conducted by Swachchh Bharat Mission-Urban under Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in January and the status of ODF ++ has increased the chances of Dehradun to secure a better rank this year. During the past two years, Dehradun could not secure a rank even in the first 100 cities of the country in the cleanliness survey.