Exposure visit to Odisha to showcase best FSSM practices
The event is completed
Date: August 4 - 6, 2022
Place: Bhubaneshwar and Puri, Odisha
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is giving technical support to state of Uttar Pradesh in its goals under Faecal Sludge Septage Management (FSSM) in vision of SDG 6. CSE collaborated with RCUES Lucknow, to organize a two day exposure visit to Odisha to showcase best FSSM practices incorporated by state of Odisha in their structure of sanitation reforms. 2 Municipal Commissioners (MC), 1 Additional MC, 1 Asst. MC, 14 Executive Officers of various ULBs, one senior officer from RCUES and Additional Mission Director, AMRUT were part of the learning visit.
The exposure visit was hosted by Odisha Water Academy (OWA) and PMU Ernst & Young (EY) in Odisha. On day 1- Shri R N Mallik, Chief Engineer-Housing and Urban Development Department Govt. of Odisha, helped the participants to understand the background, current status and future of the FSSM journey in his session. Mr Sandipan Sarangi, from E&Y, Ms Suryabarti Majhi, Project Engineer OWSSB; Shri Santanu Rath-Director OWA, Shibabrata Kar from EY and Manu from EY also facilitated the learning in their respective sessions at OWA premises. Overall, in the first half of the day 1 participants were given sessions policy, legal & regulatory framework, low cost technologies, inclusive approach-women SHG, Trans-gender (TG) in FSTP Management and issues, challenges in O&M of FSTPs.
In the second half of the day 1 participants were taken to Basughai FSTP where MsSuryabarti Majhi facilitated the visit and explained various treatment stages on the plant. The participants were also introduced to the TG community involved in the O&M of the Basughai FSTP. Meghna Sahu, Team Lead of the TG showed the gratitude towards government of Odisha for giving them the opportunity to raise in their lives and greeted the participants for visiting the plant and appreciating their efforts. In the later end of the day the participants travelled to Puri city to observe the setup of a 50 KLD Co-treatment unit at 15 MLD Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). Mr Bhabani Mohanty, Manager at WATCO Puri explained the about the treatment unit on the field. Mr Saroj Kumar Swain Executive Officer, Puri Municipality, explained the participants about the reforms they brought for regular safe desludging and transport of faecal sludge. He gave idea about how they have introduced Jal Sathi incentive system to improve tax collection for FSSM.
On day- 2 Participants travelled back to Bhubaneshwar at OWA where Mr. Sangramjit Nayak, DMA, Housing and Urban Development, Government of Odishagave us a tour of Odisha FSSM journey and challenges faced at the administrative level. It was followed by a small feedback session through google forms. It was a fruitful visit and concluded with a high note with excellent feedback from the participants.Couple of important things we have learnt from Odisha -
- Strong political and administrative will. The PS and DMA have been in the same department for the past nine years.
- Flexible to experiment, learn and adopt. They are not scared to fail.
- Taking conscious decision. They have visited places, seen technologies, reviewed guidelines and then drafted their own journey. They are pursuing their own journey, even though it is in conflict with national guideline, as they have conviction.
- Partnership with transgender group and Mission Shakti SHGs across the FSSM value chain. One such leader, Meghna Sahu impressed us in the Basughai FSTP.
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Exposure-visit Coordinators |
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| Subrata Chakraborty Senior Programme Manage Urban Water & Waste Management Programme, CSE Mobile: +91-9433229438 Email: subrata.chakraborty@cseindia.org |
Pavan Kumar |
Supporting Coordinator |
| Exposure Visit Directors | From Regional Centre For Urban And Environmental Studies (RCUES) Lucknow | |
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From CSE, |
Nasaruddin |
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| List of Participants | |
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