ODF++ tag for Patiala city

Tribune News Service

Patiala, January 28

Patiala has been certified as an ODF++ city by the Ministry of Urban Affairs among a total of 375 cities in the country. Patiala ULB is among 5 other ULBs in the state, including Nawanshahr, Rajpura, Kharar and Bhawanigarh. The corporation area was declared open-defecation free along with the entire state in October 2018.

The declaration has come after the Ministry got a third-party inspection of the area done from December 12 to December 14, 2019. As per the protocols defined by the Ministry, a city can be declared as ODF++ city if at any point of the day, not a single person is found defecating and/or urinating in the open, while all community and public toilets in it are functional and well maintained.

The declaration also demands that faecal sludge and sewage in such a city should be safely managed and treated with no discharging and/or dumping of untreated faecal sludge and sewage in drains, water bodies or open areas. A city, when declared ODF++, is supposed to be recertified every 6 months from last date of issue.

In its report, the Ministry said Patiala, with a total population of 4.06 lakh people, has 78 community toilets and 6 public toilets. Of these, 21 were found to be the best toilets. It has also achieved the target of construction of individual household latrines and community toilet seats and also has sewerage treatment plants.

The third-party team inspected 20 toilets. It found 5 toilets in inspirational category, 11 in excellent condition and remaining 4 in clean category. It assessed areas of Balmiki Basti, Baba Jiwan Singh Basti, New Bishan Nagar, Gurbax Colony, Tripuri, few schools, sabzi mandi and other overall 32 areas of the city for inspection.

MC Commissioner Poonamdeep Kaur said: “We have already rented out the maintenance of toilets in the city. Now, we will launch the second phase of providing toilet facilities under which we will reconstruct some toilets that are in a bad condition. We will also provide about 15 more public toilets.”

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