BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Sunday notified the ‘Odisha Inclusive Urban Sanitation Policy - 2024’ to fulfil its vision of inclusive, equitable, safe and sustainable sanitation services for all in urban areas and recognise sanitation as a basic human right.
The primary goal of the policy is to ensure all citizens, without any form of discrimination, in all cities and towns, have access to inclusive, equitable, safe, and sustainable sanitation services planned, managed, and delivered by the urban local bodies (ULBs), said officials of the Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department. They said the policy is also aimed at integrating the sanitation value chain of the state with modern concepts of circular economy, community partnership, disaster resilience and urban- rural convergence.
Under the policy, the government plans to ensure all black and grey water generated in the urban environment is safely confined, regularly collected, safely transported, and disposed of after being adequately treated. All ULBs in the state will sustain safe sanitation practices and systems instituted through the saturation of toilets, grey water management, and FSTP infrastructure.
Considering the high decadal urban growth rate of 27 per cent in the state, the government under the policy plans to institute safe containment, collection, transport, treatment, and disposal mechanisms for all human faecal waste and reuse and recycle of byproducts in the new ULBs.
The H&UD department will prioritise individual household toilets for the urban population, with an emphasis on their operation and maintenance to ensure their continued usage and also establish functional treatment facilities across all ULBs to eliminate open discharge of untreated faecal and liquid waste/raw sewage.