Aizawl: South Maubuang village in Aibawk block of Aizawl district has been declared Mizoram’s first model Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus village, having fulfilled all the required criteria as per Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) -G Phase II guidelines.
According to official data, the village which has a population of 649 individuals from 116 households has emerged as the first ODF Plus village in the State. The entire community had been involved towards achieving this status.
In 2021, the village was awarded the National Panchayat Award which entailed a prize money of Rs. 5 lakhs. The Village Council used the prize money to improve solid waste management in every household. Hence, today, 98 per cent of the total households have arrangements for biodegradable waste material. Apart from this, the village constructed community compost pits, with SBM-G and MGNREGS funds at various institutions and schools.
All the three schools in the village and two anganwadi centres, the community hall and the Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra (BNGRSK) hall have good arrangement for toilets, the schools ensuring there are separate facilities for boys and girls. Lately a community sanitary complex was constructed near the community hall to cater to the people that congregate there for functions and events.
As far as liquid waste management is concerned, all households located on the downhill side of the roads have their greywater flow into their kitchen gardens. Therefore, they do not necessarily need soak pits since the greywater that is generated in the households is naturally treated. As a result, the vegetables from the kitchen gardens of households result in good quality vegetables such as pumpkins, maize, beans, snake beans, mustard, etc. which the households use for their own consumption.
Even though plastic products have become an integral part of people’s lives, it has emerged as an important environmental challenge, particularly in the rural areas, owing to which plastic waste management is a critical criterion for declaring villages ODF Plus. In South Maubuang village, plastic waste is collected from house to house by the Village Water and Sanitation Committee (VWSC) every week and then put in the plastic waste collection area of the village. When an ample amount of plastic is accumulated, it is transported to the Plastic Waste Resource Management Centre at Aibawk where it is sorted, shredded or fed into the bailing machine. The Children’s Sanitation Club also collects plastics from each household in exchange for toffees.
Further, plastic bins are located at every corner of the village and a resolution banning single use plastics has been adopted by the village. The introduction of the Plastic Waste Resource Center ensures effective plastic disposal management.
VWSCs with active community participation consistently ensure proper treatment of faecal sludge. Moving from traditional trench pits to single pits in the Swachh Bharat Mission Phase-I, all households in the village have now updated to either twin pits or septic tanks, the latter connected to soak pits.
-global bihari bureau
