Bhubaneswar: Odisha government’s sewage treatment program has bagged the national award and international recognition as 83% of the urban population have covered under the facility. The State has set a national benchmark in sewage treatment to contain water pollution.
At a high level meeting chaired by chief secretary Asit Tripathy, the State housing and urban development principal secretary G Mathevathanan said that Odisha has been awarded as the best State by India Sanitation Coalition and FICCI in urban sewage management for the year 2018. Similarly, he added, the State has been awarded by the Centre of Excellence, Mussoorie for good governance in urban liquid waste management for the year 2018.
Stating that the State has set national bench marking in implementation of feacal sludge management regulation, Mathevathanan said that Netherlands and Bangladesh have highly acclaimed Odisha for low cost maangement of feacal sludge.
Odisha is setting up 60 sewage treatment plants(SeTP) in different urban local bodies(ULBs) . As completion of the SeTP takes about four to five years, the State government has introduced low cost Deep Row Entrenchments technique in 84 ULBs to cover 83% of the urban population in the interim.
Director Municipal Administratioin Sangramjit Nayak said that 200 cesspool emptier vehicles have been given to the ULBs for mechanised empitying septic tanks and pits. The desuldging rates have been rationalised and brought down to Rs 1000 per HH family septic tank/pit, he added.
The chief secretary advised the urban development officials to see that the SeTP covers nearby areas so that rural Odisha will get benefit of the programme.
Forest and environment principal secretary Mona Sharma, panchayati raj principal secretary Deo Ranjan Kumar Singh, finance principal secretary AK Meena, and water resources principal secretary Surendra Kumar were present.
