Chandigarh January 6: While taking yet another significant step towards empowering the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the State by way giving them more financial powers, Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal today announced that payment of financial assistance to the beneficiaries for the construction of individual toilets would be made by the Panchayat Samitis with effect from April 1, 2020. Till then, payment would be made through Additional Deputy Commissioners concerned. Under this scheme, reimbursement of Rs 12,000 is made to the people for the construction of toilets in their homes.

A decision to this effect was taken in the meeting of Swachh Bharat Mission and State Level Task Force held under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Mr Manohar Lal here today. Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Dushyant Chautala was also present in the meeting.

The Chief Minister directed the officers concerned to prepare a comprehensive plan for the management of cattle dung especially in the cities having dairies of milch animals so as to avoid blockading of sewerage. Till then, the cattle dung would be collected from the dairies using vehicles and disposed off in a suitable manner, he further directed. He also directed them to explore the possibilities of using the cattle dung for generating bio-gas.

While laying special emphasis on the optimum utilization of treated waste water, Mr Manohar Lal said that water treated through the Sewerage Treatment Plants (STPs) should be utilized for the purpose of irrigation. Similarly, the excess water treated through the three-pond system and five-pond system should also be utilized for irrigation purposes for which, the Irrigation and Water Resources Department would be asked to prepare schemes. He said that STPs are also being set up in the villages having population of more than 10,000 under the Mahagram Yojana of the State Government to provide better sewerage facilities in rural areas.

Mr Manohar Lal said that the experiment of night sweeping in Karnal has shown tremendous results and it should be replicated in other cities also. He directed that small mechanical sweeping machines be purchased for this purpose.

Meanwhile, Mr Manohar Lal directed that State Task Force (STF) chaired by Mr Mahipal Dhanda MLA Panipat (Rural) to meet every month to give further momentum to the components of swachhta mission in the State. The Chief Minister directed the STF to prepare an action plan and work in the mission mode to achieve Swacchta targets and make Haryana a leading State in the country in terms of cleanliness. Besides, he also directed the Non-official members of the STF to generate awareness among the people regarding Swachhta and also ensure active participation of people in this campaign. He also directed to constitute District Task Force (DTF) for each district within 15 days so as to ensure better coordination at the ground level.

It was informed in the meeting that 1359 Solid Waste Management Projects have so far been sanctioned out of which, 722 have been completed and 172 in progress. It was also informed that 22 clusters of 152 Gram Panchayats have been selected which would be made fully compliant with Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules-2016 at an estimated cost of Rs 11.68 crore per annum.

It was informed that 1323 Liquid Waste Management projects have been sanctioned so far. The work has been completed in 555 gram panchayats whereas work is in progress in 412 gram panchayats. It was also informed that in Swachh Survekshan Gramin (SSG) 2019, Haryana has achieved second position in the country and top cleanest state in North India consistently as villages of Haryana were found cleanest during SSG-2019.

Among those present in the meeting included MLA Panipat (Rural) and the Chairman of the STF Mr Mahipal Dhanda, MLA Faridabad Mr Narender Gupta, Political Secretary to Chief Minister Mr Krishan Kumar Bedi, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Mr Rajesh Khullar, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr V. Umashankar, Principal Secretary Development and Panchayats Mr Sudhir Rajpal, Director Urban Local Bodies Mr Amit Kumar Agrawal and official and non-official members of the STF.