Indian Express 17.04.2010
In 3 Varanasi villages, garbage to be collected from doorstep
Lucknow:
To begin this Saturday, the project has been launched under the Central government’s Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC). Twelve safai karamcharis will work in three villages in Sewapuri block.
The villages have been chosen under the pilot phase of the Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) programme of the TSC.
Apart from collecting garbage from home, the safai karamcharis will also be cleaning and fogging the village drains. The karamcharis will be managed by the panchayat, which will also provide appropriate land for the disposal of solid waste.
The state Panchayati Raj department, which is the nodal department for the TSC in UP, has chosen three villages — Poorey, Jogiyapur and Thattra — for the pilot project. Sewapuri is the first block in the state to be chosen under the project.
District Magistrate of Varanasi Ravindra said: “We are launching the project under the TSC, which will be managed by the Village Health and Sanitation Committee (VHSC) comprising members of the gram panchayat and local villagers.”
“This project aims at ensuring cleanliness in the villages by successfully managing solid waste. We have chosen three villages in Sewapuri, which will be converted into model villages in the pilot phase this financial year,” added Ravindra.
Sixty-seven men were chosen from Sewapuri and given training by the state government. The VHSCs have been given Rs 10,000 for each village, through which they would be distributing plastic bins in all the houses for garbage collection.
The safai karamcharis have been given brooms and handcarts fitted with bells. They will ring the bells when they come to collect garbage in the villages. They would be collecting garbage and cleaning drains on alternate days.
Twenty-three villages from the district have already been marked for the project, of which three are for the pilot phase.
District Panchayati Raj Officer Ram Asrey Dubey said: “For the first quarter, we will implement the project in three villages. Apart from training the safai karamcharis, the members of the VHSC will also be trained.”
“UNICEF is a partner in the campaign. Some of the VHSC members will also be taken to Surat in Gujarat, which has set up different models in rural sanitation under the TSC,” added Dubey.
