JAMMU: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, today chaired a meeting of the Rural Development Department (RDD) to review the progress made under the ensuing implementation plan and the one framed for the year ahead.
Besides ACS Jal Shakti Department, the meeting was attended by the Commissioner Secretary, Information & GAD; Secretary, RDD; DG, Rural Sanitation; DG, Codes and other concerned officers.
Dulloo impressed upon the Department to have a complete analysis of the works carried out in each panchayat under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) to find gaps as per the objectives set under this mission. He made out that such gaps, once found, should be plugged at the earliest to achieve the objectives of this mission. He noted that the villages in essence should look clean and hygienic for the mission offers sufficient resources to manage every waste to obtain the desired results on the ground.
He directed for early completion of the portal for regular monitoring of assets created under SBM (G). He maintained that all these assets were envisaged to make our villages clean and each of these community assets should be put to optimum use for the set purposes these had been created for.
The Chief Secretary also enjoined upon the Department to frame a proper mechanism for Operation & Maintenance (O&M) of these assets. He asked for certifying the utilization of these assets properly for their actual uses through independent bodies in these villages and panchayats.
ACS, Jal Shakti Department, Shaleen Kabra also apprised of his insights for the smooth implementation of this Mission. He advised the Department to analyse the observations carried out by the central government department funding this mission all over the country.
Kabra underscored the need to study a few parallel models adopted by other departments especially the Jal Jeevan Mission as a large number of public assets had been created under it. He also suggested maintaining proper accounts of the charges recovered and subsequently spent by the Department for O&M of these sanitation assets here.
Secretary, RDD, Aijaz Assad informed the meeting about the cumulative achievements registered by the Department under SBM (G) till now. He also laid out the anticipated outcomes under the Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) 2025-26 for which projects worth Rs 364.50 Cr (excluding 10% UT share) has been proposed before the Central Government.
He made out that the Department has been pivotal in ensuring cleanliness in all the rural areas by creating assets for the management of solid, liquid and plastic waste there. He also revealed that 16 Gobardan units are functional across the UT to generate clean energy from this waste available across our villages.
Meanwhile, DG Rural Sanitation, Anoo Malhotra apprised the meeting that the Department has a plan for declaring around 1243 villages as ODF (Plus) Model category under AIP 2025-26.
She said that the Department envisages the creation of 30,000 more Individual Household Latrines (IHHLs), the retrofitting of around 1,10,000 old units, 2744 new Community Sanitary Complexes, 23 Plastic Waste Management Units, 60 Faecal Sludge Treatment Units and 16 new Gobardan plants across different districts of J&K.
As far as Solid Waste Management is concerned, it was divulged that 44,730 individual compost pits, 2662 community compost pits and 1002 garbage collection units would be created.
Regarding liquid waste management, the meeting was informed that 3770 community soak pits and 1,66,000 individual soak pits with kitchen gardens and other units would be established as part of AIP 2025-26 once approved by GoI for the UT.
