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Jacob Zhimomi declaring Nagaland as an Open Defecation Free state in Kohima on Tuesday.(EM Image)[/caption]
Our Correspondent
Kohima, Oct. 2 (EMN): The minister for Public Health Engineering Department, Jacob Zhimomi on Tuesday declared Nagaland as an Open Defecation Free (ODF) state under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural). With the declaration, Nagaland has become the 22nd state in the country, and the fourth in the Northeast, to get the status of ODF state.
This announcement was made at a programme held at Ura Academy Hall in Kohima where seven districts viz. Dimapur, Kohima, Mon, Peren, Phek, Tuensang and Wokha were declared as ODF. Other districts -- Mokokchung, Longleng, Kiphire and Zunheboto -- were declared as ODF in 2017.
It may be mentioned that to accelerate the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage and focus on sanitation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on October 2, 2014 launched the Swachh Bharat Mission. It aims to achieve Swachh Bharat (clean India) by 2019.
According to the information provided on the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation website, under Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural), a total of 5,07,369 villages have been declared ODF across the country, with 25 states/union territories achieving the status of ODF.
It states that since 2014, a total of 1,30,858 toilets were built in Nagaland out of which 50,880 were constructed in the current year 2018-19 covering 1,451 villages across the 11 districts. Nagaland has achieved cent percent ODF under rural areas, it informed.
Zhimomi said this is a big achievement for the people of the state. He stated that development is not only about good infrastructure but also cleanliness and healthy lifestyle.
He also asserted that it is impossible to bring development overnight, and maintained that the government has its own difficulties and problems trying to rebuild the state. Especially in the aftermath of the recent monsoon disaster, he said, Nagaland is trying to rise again with the support of its citizens.
Congratulating all the villages and districts for achieving the ODF target even before the deadline set by the central government, Zhimomi pointed out that it was the citizens’ moral duty to maintain and sustain the assets created by the government.
‘Nagas are simple people, yet we are often very critical,’ said Zhimomi and urged all the citizens to make the state a better place.
Meanwhile speaking to
Eastern Mirror, Sariba Pongener from a village in Mokokchung district said that his village has become much cleaner and people are more aware of the importance of living a clean and hygienic life after the introduction of Swachh Bharat (Gramin/Rural).
He recollected how, in the past, the villagers would defecate in the jungle. But now every household has oilet and the villagers conduct social work four times in a year, he said.
Another person named Zuheto Katty from Sukiur ‘B’ village in Tuensang district thanked the government and the PHE department for implementing the project. He said a total of 115 toilets have been constructed in the village.
Katty also said that since the introduction of the Swachh Bharat Mission, the village council has been creating awareness among the villagers about hygienic lifestyle. They also conduct social work once in every three months, he informed.
