ROURKELA: Rourkela, which was selected under Smart City Mission in 2016, has to go a long way to make its slums Open Defecation Free (ODF) with slow pace of construction of Individual Household Toilets (IHHLs). Operational difficulties associated with several recently completed community and hybrid toilets and lack of seriousness among community organisers of Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) are major challenges.
In April, the Rourkela Smart City Ltd (RSCL) and RMC authorities had declared Telugupara slum of Ward-15 and Magunibasti of Ward-14 as ODF. The RSCL and RMC, with help of a New Delhi-based private agency, has targeted to make a total of 27 slums between Bisra Square and Panposh as ODF with adoption of Citizen Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach.
RSCL CEO and RMC Commissioner Rashmita Panda said under the CLTS approach, facilitators of the agency in tandem with Community Organisers (COs) of RMC are educating the targeted slum dwellers on the impact of open defecation on human health and environment. The targeted slum people are also made to realise how dignity of slum women are getting compromised with the shameful practice of open defecation. Nigrani (Vigilante) committees comprising slum dwellers also visit open defecation sites during morning and evening to create deterrence, she added.
RMC’s Sanitary Expert Swarup Mohapatra informed that about 2,500 IHHLs have been constructed against a target of 10,743. Community and hybrid toilets are being constructed at 103 locations of which, about 20 hybrid and 27 community toilets are in use. At many locations, modular toilets have started working. The target is to cover 25 locations with 125 modular toilet units, he said.
In August 2017, the city administration had announced to impose fine of `50 per head per offence of defecating in the open, but to no avail. Conservatively, about 60,000 slum population of the total 3.2 lakh population still empty their bowels in the open.
Rourkela District Congress Committee president Biren Senapati said toilets are getting constructed haphazardly to benefit contractors and many community toilets are not in use either due to failure of boring or operational problems. The hybrid toilet near Konark Talkies, modular toilets at Sarna Chowk and various such facilities at other places, remain locked all the times, he added.Eight days ago, he had written to the RMC authorities and demanded necessary steps to keep the toilets functional and clean all the time with fixing responsibilities.