In a major feat to add success to the “every house has a latrine” campaign, the Mainpura of this town has been declared as the state capital of Bihar’s first Open Defecation Free (ODF) urban pocket.
Creation of this ODF-pocket was the result of a micro-sanitation plan worked out by the local slum dwellers, NGOs, social workers and the state government agencies. Different NGOs including Nidan and Water Aid worked in association with the state government’s Department of Urban Development and Housing to make it happen.
According to Nidan, the micro-sanitation plan did not stop at construction of latrine in each house but also included construction of metallic roads, supply of uninterrupted water and solution of sewage problems. A Slum Water and Sanitation Committee (SWSC) was also formed to solve the problem of potable water and covering of the main sewage that passes through the Mainpura slum.