Nagalim: Villages Win Sanitation Award
Twenty-three villages in Nagaland have been conferred with a prestigious award by the Nagaland PHED minister for their efforts in improving sanitation and hygiene facilities for their residents.
Below is an article by the Times of India:
Twenty-three fully sanitized villages in Nagaland were conferred the Nirmal Gram Puraskar (NGP) (clean & hygienic village award) 2010 here recently by Nagaland PHED minister Dr Ngangshi K Ao.
The 23 awardees received a total cash amount of Rs 17 lakh. The awards carried citations, trophies and cash awards ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh, depending on the population size of the village.
NGP is an incentive scheme for encouraging villagers to take active part in making their villages open defecation free. The criteria for getting the NGP award are that all households in a village, including schools and Angawadis centres, must have toilets; open defecation must be completely eliminated; and solid waste management should be ensured.
Upto the 2010-11 period, a total of 73 village councils in Nagaland were awarded the prestigious NGP awards for fully-sanitized villages. Further, the Centre has approved 17 more villages for the NGP 2011.
Congratulating the awardees, the Nagaland PHED minister urged upon villages to continue to put concerted efforts towards maintenance of sanitation as it contributes to the well-being of society and creates a safe environment to live in. He also appealed to women groups to continue to play an important role in the sanitation campaign exercise.
K Ao said the Centre, as per its 12th Plan, is targeting to declare all villages open defecation-free by 2017 and called upon the villages not to rest on their laurels but to take it up as a challenge to move ahead and sustain the status.
Stating that a lot of developmental activities are going on in Nagaland, the minister asked the people to extend their support and cooperation to the government for all-round development of the state.
PHED secretary Zhaleo Rio urged villagers to continue to spread awareness about sanitation so that all villages in Nagaland are fully sanitized one day.
The Total Sanitation Campaign was started In Nagaland in 2000. Congratulating the winning villages, PHED chief engineer Er Mhondamo Ovung said he hoped neighbouring villages would follow in their footsteps.
