Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Nov 29: The Dakshina Kannada (DK) zilla panchayat (ZP) has instructed all gram panchayats to undertake a special operation, with community participation, to build sustainable, waste-free clean villages.

At present, 322 villages have been declared ODF Plus model villages. However, issues such as burning plastic along roadside drains, dumping waste in public places, and creating heaps of garbage continue to be observed. It is the responsibility of gram panchayats to create awareness among the public and ensure cleanliness is maintained.

All households in the village must have functional individual toilets. All anganwadi centres, schools, and gram panchayat buildings must have separate functional toilets for women and men. No contaminated water should stagnate in open areas within the village limits, and garbage heaps must not be present anywhere. Information about ODF villages should be displayed through wall writings. Necessary measures must be taken to upgrade the remaining villages into ODF Plus model villages. Steps must also be taken to build an eco-friendly, single-use plastic-free society. Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, all villages have been instructed to manage plastic and other solid waste properly to prevent pollution and move towards waste-free village status.

The measures to be taken by gram panchayats include forming sanitation and advisory committees along with a cleanliness task force to maintain hygiene, ensuring community-based management of solid waste management units, enforcing mandatory cleanliness in all government offices through ward-level task forces, creating public awareness by visiting households and shops, ensuring proper segregation and management of wet, dry, and hazardous waste, taking strict action to prevent the sale or use of prohibited single-use plastic items, and working towards the declaration of open waste-free villages.