KOHIMA, JUNE 23: A team of central officials from the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) is in Nagaland to scrutinize the progress of said mission being undertaken in the state.
The team comprises senior field manager of the New Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies, Ajay Kumar Singh, field supervisor Dinesh Kumar and representatives from the state. The group is visiting urban and rural areas to collect data and to interact with citizens and villagers.
After collecting data, the team will present a report to the centre about how far the sanitation mission had been implemented in the state, Ajay Singh said during a press conference Thursday evening in Kohima town.
The team leader informed that they have already visited some villages including Khonoma and Jotsoma on June 20, followed by Chiephobozou the next day and Tuophema and Botsa on the 22nd. The team also visited Kohima village and Chedema Thursday.
The team is divided into several groups. Some are visiting the urban areas of Kohima to collect data, it was informed.
This is the first phase of assessment in Nagaland. Kohima and Mokokchung districts have been selected for the current phase. The team is scheduled to cover at least 600 households in the urban areas and 600 households in the rural areas, Singh said.
“Our visit here in Nagaland is to know/learn what changes have come about with the Swachh Bharat Mission,” he said, and that the ‘main theme’ of the mission was to stop open defecation.
The assignment is an initiative of the central government, under the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, the nodal ministry of the Swachh Bharat Mission, to gather an official report about how far the SBM was being effectively carried out in the country.
Under the national level study for situational analysis and impact assessment of the Swachh Bharat Mission, all the states in India will be covered. 600 urban households and 600 rural households will be covered in each state and union territory.
It was informed that more than 30 states have been covered so far. As for Nagaland, the period for collecting the data is till June 30.
According to the team, the rural areas which they covered had responded with the information that the Swachh Bharat Mission initiatives were yet to reach the villages.
As informed, the team will also collect official reports from some of the Nagaland government officials on said mission, it was informed.
The other districts, not included in the first phase, will be covered during subsequent phases, Singh informed.
