What’s more, half the incidence is reported from the slums. The city has over 370 slums, both authorised and unauthorised. The report further says that Capital Hospital, the biggest government- run health facility in the city, had recorded 1.5 lakh cases of suspected jaundice of which 23 per cent tested positive. While it speaks volumes about public health and sanitation affairs in the Capital, the situation holds good for other urban areas of Orissa.

Stirred by poor state of sanitation triggering water-borne diseases in urban areas, the State Government has asked eight urban local bodies, including the two municipal corporations in Twin City, to prepare City Sanitation Plan (CSP).

The CSP will follow a city-wide total sanitation programme which takes an inclusive development approach.

The Urban Development Department which shot off a letter to the chief executives of the ULBs stated that CSP will be prepared by taking the ground realities and local conditions into consideration.

The ULBs were asked to make assessment update of the situation. The eight urban bodies include Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Puri, Sambalpur, Rourkela, Balasore and Baripada. The Ministry of Urban Development has sanctioned ` 87.5 lakh for the preparation of CSPs which would have to conform to the National Urban Sanitation Policy.

The CSPs will include strategies to develop sanitation facilities and special emphasis will be on the slums. The thrust will be to eradicate open defecation in the urban areas by providing household, community and public toilets.

A complete institutional structure will be developed for this purpose and the State Government will assist the ULBs in their initiatives. On its part, the State Government will be required to formulate a sanitation strategy.

The ULBs have been asked to form city sanitation cells or committees, hold stakeholders meeting besides mounting a communication plan. They will be required to collect updated data on sanitation from each ward and each slum so that existing gaps are filled.