Two Steps Ahead

After becoming the first large state to achieve total sanitation, Himachal Pradesh is all geared up to manage its waste and ensure cleanliness. But tourist influx may derail its efforts.

- Rashmi Verma

TOTAL SANITATION is no mean feat in a state where 90 per cent of the people live in hamlets scattered across the Himalayan mountain range and only 30 per cent of the households had toilets five years ago. But in October 2016, Himachal Pradesh not only became the first large state—and the second state after Sikkim—to achieve open defecation-free (ODF) status under the Centre’s Swachh Bharat Mission, but also achieved the status six months ahead of its target. And now, there is no looking back.

Rakesh Kumar Prajapati, additional deputy commissioner of Shimla district, says, “We are now moving towards ODF Plus, under which we recycle and reuse toilet waste as well as grey water from bathrooms and kitchens. We also ensure that no toilet gets clogged and drinking water sources do not get contaminated.”

District authorities in the state have selected gram panchayats from each block and are developing them as a model for efficient solid and liquid waste management.

In Koti gram panchayat of Mashobra block, for instance, the authorities have provided two bins to each household—one for biodegradable waste and the other for non-biodegradable waste. “People now sell the non-biodegradable waste to scrap dealers. We are motivating communities to dig soak pits for greywater and compost pits for inhouse disposal of biodegradable waste, which can be later used as compost in farms or kitchen gardens,” says Block Development Officer Kalyani Gupta.

Villages in Koti and their surroundings now look clean as no one litters or dumps waste on hillsides. Koti’s transformation has inspired the other 13 gram panchayats in Mashobra, where communities have voluntarily dug soak pits and compost pits.