Around 341 Villages in Pulwama Lead the Way | Achieve Open Defecation-Free Status | J&K The Sanitation Committee in Panchayat Halqa Kakapora in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir is playing a good role in giving the 341 villages Open Defecation-Free status, leading the way. This is a big achievement here by the youth and district administration that started the sanitation initiative because of which around 341 villages are ODF Plus. An ODF Plus village is one that has retained its Open Defecation-Free (ODF) status while also implementing solid or liquid waste management systems. Around 140 segregated sheds have been completed where the solid wastage will get disposed off. At the same time, waste recycling will also be done here, said officials. The concerned authorities of the district administration visited every Panchayat and created awareness among the residents there so that our villages remain clean and there is no kind of pollution. Through the cleanliness drive, the authorities requested the residents to throw garbage at the designated point whether from home kitchens, shops or workshops. There the collection will take place after that it will be taken to the segregation and disposal point. Here, recycling will also be done and the revenue generated will be used for the development of the villages. Elders in the Pulwama village praised PM Narendra Modi for starting this step which is beneficial for everyone, every home and each firm. The Swachhata Programme is good. Now all households have toilets and no one dirties the environment. The ambience of the village is looking good with cleanliness around, said villagers in Kakapora. The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir achieved ODF Plus Model status on 14th August’ 2023. It has declared all its 6650 villages across 285 blocks in 20 districts as ODF Plus Model. Only when a village has achieved a condition where it is visually clean with minimal litter and stagnant water, it is declared as ODF plus Model. The Rural Sanitation department made Village Sanitation Saturation Plans for each village to ensure it has assets available for solid liquid waste management. About 353631 individual soak pits and 23781 community soak pits have been constructed by the department. Nearly, 137824 individual compost pits and 12118 community compost pits have been constructed either by the department or by people themselves in their households. Around 1850 waste collection and segregation sheds have been constructed for proper disposal of waste. Besides, 536 Community Sanitary Complexes have also been constructed in J&K. To cater to plastic waste in villages, Plastic Waste Management Units are being established in each block.