Ranchi, Dec. 7: A meeting was held at the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, at New Delhi on Monday under the chairmanship of the secretary, Department of Water Resources. Jharkhand chief secretary Rajiv Gauba along with the Secretary Urban Development attended the meeting.
Project director, State Project Management Group, Government of Jharkhand, presented the state government�s views and detailed the action taken by the government in Sahebganj. The director, UNDP India, with his team also took part in the meeting.
The meeting decided that the Jharkhand model is most appropriate for the National Mission for Clean Ganga. The villages that are flood prone are to have bio-digester toilets built so that human waste is not leached into the ground water.
UNDP shall work with the Government of India and Government of Jharkhand to tap into the vast existing SHG network in order to foster a spirit of hygiene, while strengthening them and making them a stakeholder in the programme.
It would also look at innovative ways to dovetail the current schemes of the government to ensure a clean Ganga and clean Sahebganj and help in capacity building by having a project management team at the district-level assisting the Deputy Commissioner, Sahebganj, and at the state level assisting the Nodal Officer National Mission for Clean Ganga.
In addition, efforts will be made to create awareness in the target villages to allow for a change in the mindset of the citizens towards sanitation. This is to be achieved through community participation that shall be fostered by a �village motivator.� The village motivator shall be provided by UNDP in line with capacity building at the grassroots level.
UNDP has also promised to ensure livelihood generation by means of innovative implementation of state and central government livelihood schemes and promoting entrepreneurial spirit. These will include schemes like vermi-composting, poultry and other such initiatives. Development of eight strategically located electric crematoriums to reduce hardship caused during monsoon season when availability of dry firewood is difficult will also be undertaken to reduce the flow of particulate matter into the river.
At the same time, the UNDP will provide intensive monitoring for achievement of outdoor defecation free status of the entire project area. UNDP shall also use existing budgetary provisions to finance the intervention along with its own resources for the capacity building.
The next meeting will be next week in Ranchi under the chairmanship of Gauba to finalize the UNDP plan for intervention with exact details.