The team of Quality Council of India (QCI) evaluated the condition of public toilets located within the jurisdiction of Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC). According to an official of Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC), the assessment was carried out to confer Open Defecation Free + (ODF Plus) tag to the State biggest Urban Local Body (ULB).
Notably, with the launch of Swacchta Survekshan – 2019 on January 4, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has added few vital components to scale up the annual sanitation ranking granted to the cities that takes up the sanitation challenge.
Besides regular elements like citizens feedback, information – education and communication (IEC) protocol including the service level progress, SBA -- ODF Plus protocol focuses on sustaining community/ public toilet usage by ensuring its functionality, cleanliness and maintenance by the respective ULB.
As per RMC officials, the QCI team inquired about the measures being adopted by the respective Civic Body here to popularise the usage of public toilets, geo tagging, cleanliness including the total number of toilets located at a regular interval within the urban vicinity.
“The QCI team was here for re-verification of ODF status. In every six month, the process of ODF re-verification is carried out at the ULBs. The team was here for a day and collected inputs based on the innovative measures adopted by the Municipal Corporation team in the recent days. The team appeared satisfied with the progress report presented by RMC,” said RMC City Manager, Sandeep Kumar.
The indicators released by the MoHUA suggests that comprising 5000 marks, an additional element containing 1,250 points – (certification 25 per cent, 20 per cent star rating including 5 per cent for open defecation free (ODF), ODF + and ODF ++ has been added, besides the model of direct observation, citizen feedback, service level progress for which 1,250 marks each under these three sub-heads will be given to the city.
Further, elaborating the concept of ‘Swacch Bharat Abhiyan’s – Swacchta Survekshan’, special attention under ‘Solid Waste Management’ criteria is on processing and disposal of waste (30 per cent), collection and transportation (27 per cent), sustainable sanitation (25 per cent), Innovation (5 per cent), By-laws (5 per cent), CB (3 per cent) and Information, Education and Communication (IEC) ( 5 per cent).