TURA: The Swachh Survekshan Grameen was launched on Wednesday at DRDA Conference Hall in Tura by West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner (DC) and Chairman of the District Swachh Bharat Mission, DSBM (G), Ram Singh in the presence of Sub-Divisional Officer (C), Dadenggre Civil Sub-Division and District Mission Coordinator, DSBM (G) Ramakrishna Chitturi, block mission coordinators of the district and representatives from line departments.
Speaking on the occasion Singh said the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti has decided to undertake Swachh Survekshan Grameen to provide national ranking of all districts and states of India on the basis of quantitative and qualitative sanitation parameters.
Singh informed that the maiden exercise, which covered few districts last year, had generated huge attention from the stakeholders and fostered a spirit of healthy competition among villages to improve their sanitation status, thereby, creating cleaner villages by adopting sustainable sanitation practices.
In order to accelerate sanitation coverage in rural areas to eliminate open defecation, the Swachh Survekshan is being implemented across the country.
On the other hand, Chitturi, in his powerpoint presentation, highlighted the objectives of Swachh Survekshan Gramin which is an effort to motivate and encourage the practice of Swachh Bharat Mission (G) in the districts and engage rural community to improve their sanitation status through intensive IEC campaign, citizens feedback on mobile app, etc.
He informed that the ranking methodology is based on a comprehensive set of parameters including self-reporting by districts, data from SBM-G, district-level surveys of public places like schools, anganwadis, PHCs, haat bazaars, panchayat and citizens perception of swachhata and their recommendations for improvement of the programme.
As part of Swachh Survekshan Grameen, 17,450 villages in 698 districts across India will be covered where 87,250 public places and 17,450 villages will be visited for surveys.
