Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday reiterated his government’s firm commitment to make rural Punjab Open Defecation Free (ODF) by the end of this year, followed by solid and liquid waste management in the state.The Chief Minister gave the assurance to Parameswaran Iyer, Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India, an official spokesperson said.Captain Amarinder further assured the Secretary that his government would also take up, on top priority, solid and liquid management in rural areas after Punjab was declared open defecation free.While interacting with the Chief Minister on the various issues, ranging from sanitation to rural drinking water supply, Parameswaran Iyer discussed the implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and rural water supply schemes at length. He promised full support to the state in the implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission, while lauding the state’s performance on this count so far. Other states, he said, should replicate Punjab's model, especially for the execution of rural water supply schemes.
Meanwhile, Secretary Water Supply & Sanitation, Jaspreeet Talwar, apprised the Chief Minister that the department had already provided 24X7 water supply in 125 villages and 10-hour supply in 1171 villages, with 18 lac household having been provided with private water connections. She also revealed that Iyer had visited one such village - Baliyali in Mohali district, to secure first-hand information about the successful implementation of 24X7 water supply schemes and open defecation free village. He highly appreciated the good work done in the district by the administration, village panchayats and water supply & sanitation department for achieving new benchmarks in the rural development.Earlier, Iyer had a video conference with all Deputy Commissioners of the state to review the Swachh & Swasth Punjab mission. The DCs promised all-out efforts to make rural Punjab open defecation free by December 31, 2017. Till date, 10 districts out of 22 districts, covering 6238 villages, have been made open defecation free.
The Deputy Commissioners further informed Iyer that majority of the beneficiaries were adopting bath-cum-toilets. Intervening in the discussion, the Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation, GoI, intimated that third party survey was done by the Quality Council of India. As per the survey report, 98% of the total toilets constructed across Punjab were being actually utilized for the desired purpose. The survey further revealed that out of a total of 33 lac households, 84% had already got toilets constructed in their houses, which showed that Punjab was swiftly moving towards achieving the target of open defecation free state by the year end. Prominent amongst others who attended the meeting were Media Advisor to CM Raveen Thukral, Chief Principal Secretary to CM Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary to CM Tejveer Singh, Secretary Water Supply and Sanitation Jaspreet Talwar and Director Water Supply and Sanitation Department Aswani Sharma.