SRINAGAR: Housing & Urban Development Department (HUDD) today organized a Capacity Building Workshop on Toilet Saturation and Used Water Management for all Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils and Municipal Committees of J&K here. Commissioner Secretary, Housing & Urban Development Department, Mandeep Kaur, chaired the event.
The workshop was organised with the objective to build capacity of the engineers and officers/officials of all Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the area of saturation of toilets and management of used water so that planning, designing and development of related infrastructure is done in urban areas of the UT in line with the CPHEEO and Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0 guidelines.
VK Chaurasia, Advisor and Satish Kumar, Assistant Advisor, Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO) and other experts from the National PMU, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) GoI made detailed presentations on Toilet coverage in ULBs, implementation gaps, preparation of DPRs for Used Water Management and declaration of towns as Safaimitra Surakshit Shehar.
The experts shared their insights with the participants and there were healthy discussions during the workshop on different aspects of Used Water Management. Besides, guidance was provided on progressing of ULBs towards ODF+ and ODF++ certification in the forthcoming third party assessment to be conducted by Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, GoI.
The experts also advised the ULBs to ensure that all community and public toilets in all urban areas are functional, clean, and inspected at least once a week. They also laid emphasis on renovating & revamping of existing Community and Public Toilets, besides moving further towards construction of more Community and Public toilets especially Aspirational Toilets.
The workshop covered various techniques for treating wastewater through Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) and Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP), as per the population categories of Urban Local Bodies. It also highlighted the Safai Mitra Surakshit Shehar Protocol, focusing on the safety of sanitation workers involved in cleaning septic tanks or sewers, besides using modern equipment for safe desludging operations and desilting of drains.
Mandeep Kaur conducted detailed deliberation on the presentations made during the workshop. She asked all stakeholders to prepare comprehensive Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) incorporating advanced technologies, including nature-based solutions for used water treatment. The participants were instructed to identify land for wastewater treatment plants in coordination with district administration. They were also asked to collaborate with consultants and engineers during preparation of DPRs for these plants.
All officers were also advised to put up their vehicle/equipment requirement in addition to PPE kits and safety gears for safaimitras to achieve adequacy so that all the ULBs are declared as ‘Safaimitra Surakshit Shehar’. The Commissioner Secretary also impressed upon the participants to update the progress of all the ULBs on the Swachhatam portal of MoHUA for monitoring.
The participants who attended the workshop included Commissioner, Jammu Municipal Corporation, Commissioner Srinagar Municipal Corporation, Vice Chairman LCMA Srinagar, Director Urban Local Bodies Kashmir, Director Urban Local Bodies, Jammu Chief Engineer J&K UEED, Chief Town Planner Kashmir, Chief Executive Officers/Executive Officers of Municipal Councils/Committees, engineers from UEED, PHE & Srinagar Municipal Corporation and experts from State PMU Housing & Urban Development Department J&K.
