District Development Commissioner, Udhampur, Ravinder Kumar today formally declared Sial Jattan Panchayat Open Defection Free (ODF) in Udhampur.Congratulating the newly declared ODF Panchayat, DDC said that following the tremendous progress being made in ODF declaration across the district, the next step for ‘Swachh Bharat Gramin’ will be to focus on sustaining this ODF status and systematic waste management in rural areas.It is important to mention that panchayat Sial Jattan is the first Panchayat of district Udhampur which is declared ODF in the district.While addressing the gathering, DDC said that all stake holders worked with enthusiasm and intensive zeal by involving grass root level workers and Government functionaries to make the panchayat ODF in shortest possible time.He called upon the people and said that there should be commitment of cleanliness among the villagers and school children and urged them to be part of the campaign for a healthy society.Commenting on achieving this milestone, the DDC said collaborative community participation has led to achieve this ODF status. Focus is also on creation of complete ODF villages, rather than only on construction of individual toilets.
This entails triggering the entire village in to changing their behaviour, he added.DDC said that during Swachh Bharat Mission awareness programme, around 400 toilets constructed in Panchayat Sial Jattan and about eight villages of this Panchayat were covered under this scheme.In a bid to appreciate the hard work of people and stakeholders who have made their gram panchayats ODF, DDC awarded many people on the occasion and emphasized upon them to motivate others with their efforts towards the Swachh Bharat Mission campaign.Earlier, DDC also inaugurates number of newly constructed toilets on the occasion.Among others, Assistant Commissioner Development, Angrez Singh, Executive engineers PHE, Ashok Sharma ,Block Development Officer, Rupali Vaid, Nodal Officers, NT Balli, Ashok Kumar and SDAO Vikas Padha besides and other district and sectoral officers of various departments besides large number of prominent citizen were present on the occasion.