NANDED’S SANITATION REVOLUTION Making ODF and mosquito -free villages a reality An Initiative of the Zilla Parishad of Nanded Nanded’s Sanitation Revolution Page 1 of 36 FOREWORD Sanitation has become a buzzword across rural India ever since the Prime Minister announced the Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014 and his vision for a Clean India. This is especially true of Nanded district - located in Aurangabad division (also known as Marathwada), which accounts for one-third of Maharashtra’s open defecation load. Nanded is one of among the well-performing districts in Aurangabad division, recording the fastest pace of toilet construction in the state, as per a report in Business Standard1 newspaper. The Nanded Zilla Parishad’s records show that a whopping 1.62 lakh household toilets spanning 1330 gram Panchayats were built in Nanded between May 2014 and March 2016. In addition to toilets, the district has constructed 69367 soak pits for the management of grey water at the household level, spanning 92 gram panchayats. As a result of the soak pits, open gutters have become dry, the stench and diseases that emanate from them have been eliminated. A steady rise in water tables in a number of villages is also being reported from the ground. This claim is subject to validation by the Ground Water Survey and Development Agency. But the list of achievements doesn’t end there. Nanded has begun providing quality drinking water to the rural populace by installing reverse osmosis (RO) water purification plants – something previously unheard of in rural India. Over 410 villages will have access to RO-purified water by the end of 2016, thereby benefitting nearly 1.82 lakh households. In a nutshell, it is because of these three interventions – toilet and soak pit constructions and RO installations – that Nanded is steadily marching towards realising the dream of a Clean India. This document aims to understand the sanitation revolution that is unfolding in Nanded, in terms of the planning, implementation and convergence processes at play. It also aims to capture the spirit of the positive changes taking place at the village level, by relying not so much on data, as on the voices and anecdotes of the real beneficiaries – the people of Nanded themselves. A survey by independent experts will be commissioned by the Zilla Parishad at a later stage to scientifically evaluate the impact of all three interventions on the quality of life of the people and on the natural environment. They say the journey of a thousand miles begin with a single step. Nanded has taken that first step and how! May 2016 1 http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/maharashtra-2-lakh-toilets-constructed-under-swachh- bharat-mission-115053000306_1.html Nanded’s Sanitation Revolution Page 1 of 36 INTRODUCTION Nanded district, spread over 10,620 square kilometers, is located in the south-eastern most part of Maharashtra. It NANDED AT A GLANCE borders the neighbouring state of Telangana and is made up of 16 blocks – Ardhapur, Bhokar, Biloli, Deglur, Dharmabad, Hadgaon, Himayatnagar, Kandhar, Kinwat, Loha, Mahoor, Mudkhed, Mukhed, Naigaon (Khairgaon), Nanded and Umri. Administratively, it falls within the Population 24,47,394 Aurangabad division and geographically in the Marathwada Area 10,619 sq km region. Nanded is home to 24.4 lakh people as per the Zilla Total no. of toilets 4,59,971 Parishad, 35.32 % of who now have access to toilets. No. of ODF villages 60 The pace at which Nanded is working to construct toilets No. of NGP-awarded villages 170 and making its villages open defecation free (ODF), without a doubt, has put it on the sanitation map not just in the Aurangabad division, but also in Maharashtra. What makes this sanitation revolution stand apart from all others is that it is based on simple, organic ideas, an out-of-the-box, bottom-up approach, supported by sustainable, cost-effective and convergent solutions. It is also important to note that the changes unfolding are district-led but village community-driven. And that is the secret to Nanded’s success in the past two years. The entire operation to ensure that the district exceeds its sanitation targets and becomes 100% open defecation-free (ODF) before 2019 is led by IAS Officer Mr. Abhimanyu Kale, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Zilla Parishad (ZP) of Nanded. Not content with just making villages open defecation free, Mr. Kale has gone a step further and introduced the idea of building centralised soak-pits and installing RO plants in every village. Mr. Kale believes that this troika – toilets, soak pits and RO plants – will end open defecation, arrest the non-agrarian water crisis to a significant extent, put a stop to water-borne diseases and ensure that every person has access to clean drinking water, thus realising the ZP’s vision of an open defecation-free, mosquito-free and disease- free Nanded. THE INTERVENTIONS The next few pages will shed light on the three interventions staged by the ZP. They are: 1. Construction of Toilets towards making villages ODF 2. Construction of Soak-pits 3. Installation of RO plants In each individual section, the interventions will be elaborated upon in terms of the planning and implementation process, accountability matrix, convergence, operations and maintenance, and funding. Brief case studies and testimonials of beneficiaries are included in each section. Nanded’s Sanitation Revolution Page 2 of 36 INTERVENTION 1: CONSTRUCTION OF TOILETS Open defecation refers to the act of relieving one’s self in the open. Prior to 2013, in the absence of toilets, a vast majority of the rural population would relieve itself outdoors – on roads and in open fields. The situation began to change in 2013 as the drive to construct toilets slowly began and gained momentum. As per the ZP’s records, 1.62 lakh toilets were built between May 2014 and March 2016. As of 31st March 2016, 59,393 of the individual rural households in Nanded that built toilets are online, that is, they have received the incentive amount. The remaining 1,02,984 are in the process of receiving the sum, as authorities first verify that the construction of the toilet is complete and the toilet is being regularly used for at least six months. Table 2: Overall picture of ODF journey in Nanded Parameter Details Total no. of IHHL in Nanded as of 31-3-2016 4,59,971 Total no. of IHHL built between May 2014 and 1,62,377 March 2016 Online 59,393 Offline 1,02,984 No. of ODF villages 60 No. of villages awarded Nirmal Gram Puraskar (NGP) 170 Top 3 best performing blocks Hadgaon, Naigaon, Bhokar Bottom 3 performing blocks Umri, Ardhapur, Dharmabad Funds allocated/reimbursed as of 31-3-2016 2013-14 – Rs. 419.36 lakh 2014-15 – Rs. 3549.25 lakh 2015-16 – Rs. 6128.53 lakh Planning and Implementation Process At the district level: The total flexibility granted to states by the SBM-G guidelines and the State Operational Guideline to carry the mission forward has trickled down within Maharashtra to the district-level as well. In Nanded, the district council led the charge when it came to implementing this intervention. The CEO called a meeting of all the Heads of Departments (HoDs) and officers of the Zilla Parishad on 16th May 2014 to brief them on the sanitation target and the efforts needed to achieve it. He advocated a hands-on approach, and demonstrated by visiting villages, staying overnight to gain first-hand experience and constructing a toilet with his own bare hands in Sawargaon in Ardhapur taluka in January 2015 (See picture). CEO Kale also passed orders for all HoDs and ZP officers to stay overnight in Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the allocated blocks on every Tuesday to resolve problems related to the construction of toilets. At the block level: The ZP has put the onus on Block Development Officers (BDOs) to expedite the planning and construction of toilets at the block level. As a result, Nanded reports that all BDOs have constructed at least one toilet in their GPs in their allocated blocks. In a bid to procure accurate information on the status of toilet constructions from Nanded’s Sanitation Revolution Page 3 of 36 each village, the CEO used another out-of-the box idea by appointing mini-BDOs. They are a cadre of extension officers. Each one is allotted 10-15 GPs, and reports to the BDO. Their role is to follow-up and gather information from Gram Sewaks, who are village-based revenue officers. The ZP believes in a using a carrot-and-stick approach: rewarding performers and punishing non-performers. To tackle the lethargy that had set into the system and to send out a strong message, CEO Kale suspended 29 non-performing Gram Sewaks in 2014-2015, reinstating 20 of them only after each one had successfully constructed 100 individual household toilets in their duty GPs. The Zilla Parishad of Nanded also uses social networking platforms like WhatsApp to bring about cohesiveness within the system and boost the morale of various ground-level functionaries. At the village level: The BDOs put the onus of planning and constructing toilets on individual gram sabhas in GPs. On the second and fourth Tuesday of every month, Gram Sabhas survey all the villages that fall within their GP and halt overnight in each individual village to take stock of the situation. Accountability Matrix While the CEO of the ZP provides the overall leadership at the district level, it is the Deputy CEO, Water and Sanitation who oversees the day-to-day roll-out of the intervention.