Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Friday declared itself open defecation free (ODF) ++ city.
Announcing this BMC Administrator and Director Municipal Administration (DMA) Sangramjit Nayak said the ODF ++ status will be open for Third Party verification following Friday’s declaration.
Nayak said gradually BMC will proceed towards applying for the Garbage Free Cities (GFC) Star Rating as it is always setting a benchmark of its own in the state and has become a role model for others.
He also asked the Sanitation team of BMC to get ready for 2020 Swachha Survekshan Survey which will comprise of 6,000 marks.
The 2020 survey will involve 4,830 urban local bodies this year, the GFC Star Rating will have a seven star rating programme for making Indian cities garbage free.
He called upon all stakeholders of the city, hotel associations, petrol pump owners and others to come forward and contribute towards the city’s beautification drives and make it one of the most beautiful, clean and green cities of the country through public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
Nayak requested BMC to go for more and more urinals at major locations.
BMC Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary said, “With the ODF ++ declaration, we are also going to request our citizens to become more and more responsible to make the Temple City clean, green and a good urban habitat.”
BMC has already launched a ‘Go Green Campaign’ to sensitise citizens not to create more non-biodegradable wastes and they have responded positively.
Gifting ‘seed card’ on this occasion to the attending delegates, the municipal commissioner said, “If we can start adopting small ideas like this in our daily life then we can create more greenery and beautify the city as well as fight climate change threats.”
Seed cards are beautiful cards made from handmade paper which contains seeds inside. When a user throws away the cards in the open the seeds germinate and thus more trees are added to the existing plants in the environment automatically.
He said the BMC is planning to develop urinals at 20 major city locations after carrying out a baseline study and they would be ready by March 31 next.
The BMC has so far created nearly 1,700 functional toilet seats and 226 toilets are under construction.
All these toilets are having child-friendly facilities and are suitable for use by senior citizens, men, women and transgender communities.