Addressing the Sammelan at Bithoor, Kanpur, in Uttar Pradesh, she said its the responsibility of the community to take forward the ODF status achieved in Ganga villages and add Solild and Liquid Management initiatives to it. Praising the unprecedented number progress made by Uttar Pradesh in last one year, she said that within one year sanitation coverage in the state has reached about 99% from a meager 50%. She also informed that India’s sanitation coverage has gone up from 39 to 96 percent in just 4 years with construction of 8.8 crore toilets. She said that her Ministry is focused on a series of SLWM interventions now after the ODF achievements.
A large number of students, youth. Women , swachhagrahies, Ganga volunteers, and people from all walks of life, attended the sammelan. The Minister held a similar Convention in Kannauj yesterday. The first two were held in Sahibganj Jharkhand and Buxar in Bihar earlier this month.
Ganga Gram is a concept to transform banks on the village of River Ganga into ideal villages with emphasis on ODF, Solid and Liquid Waste Management, Water Conservation, Ground Water Recharge, modern crematorium, tree plantation, organic and medicinal plant agriculture. .
The Minister appreciated the efforts made by the officials of her Ministry, the State and the district teams, Panchayat representatives towards faster realisation of Sanitation coverage in rural areas, .
Shri Akshay Rout, Director General, Special Projects in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation highlighted the collaborative nature of the Ganga Bank Project. He underlined the need for attention by States and districts to sustainability aspects of the Sanitation programme.
People’s representatives and Senior officials from Centre and State were also present.
Later, Ms. Uma Bharati visited an exhibition where district administration and local producers had demonstrated various components of Ganga Gram, local products, and models of twin pit toilet and SLWM strategies.