District Development Commissioner Poonch, Tariq Ahmad Zargar today convened a meeting of concerned officers of Rural Development Department and Municipalities to review the progress made under centrally sponsored schemes 'Swatch Bharat Mission' (SBM).Threadbare discussions were held about the implementation, progress and campaigns initiated by the Rural Development Department and municipalities in Poonch and Surankote under Swatch Bharat Mission.During the meeting, DDC took a detailed review of activities to be carried out for constructing IHHL and maintaining sanitation in the district.He called for persistent information, education and communication activities to spread awareness among all stakeholders. He stressed for launching a door to door campaign to inform the public about personal hygiene and cleanliness in surroundings and motivate them to develop a good habit of using toilets.DDC said that government has set Oct 2, 2018 as a deadline to make the state free from open defecation and stressed on the officials to work with extra zeal to achieve the target. He directed ACD and DPO to construct the toilets for households that have been left in the baseline survey 2012.
He said the task of constructing IHHL units should be done on war footing particularly in blocks which are supposed to be declared ODF in the coming months. He also stressed for regularly updating data on MIS, geo-tagging and related data on SBM portal.Earlier, concerned BDOs apprised the DDC about the progress registered in construction of Community/public toilets their verification and geo-tagging etc. He stressed upon BDOs whose blocks are lagging behind in achieving assigned targets to gear up works. He said he will monitor the progress of SBM on daily basis. He directed BDO Mandi for taking requsite steps for maintaining cleanliness in Mandi Bazaar area by installing dustbins, proper disposal of sewerage and wastes at identified places and asked the BDO to prepare a DPR for the said purpose so that people don't pollute Mandi River.The meeting was attended by ADDC Abdul Hamied, Joint Director Planning Seva Ram , ACD Mukthar Ahmad sheikh, executive officer Municipality Poonch, Irshad Sofi, DPO Mukhlis Quarashi, Executive engineer REW, EO municipal council Surnkote, BDOs and Panchyat Inspectors.