Gujarat's sanitation workers threaten to declare strike over manual scavenging
Members of Gujarat's Safai Kamdar Adhikar Andolan have expressed their intent to declare a strike if the government continues with its non-implementation of the provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. The organisation has also demanded that the state government follow orders of the Supreme Court in identifying and compensating the families of manual scavengers who have lost their lives working in manholes. Forty sanitation workers have died since 1993 in Ahmedabad alone.
A toilet in every house may not be a reality by 2019: Down to Earth
An anlaysis by Down to Earth Hindi magazine has revealed that the government is in no state to meet its toilet construction targets by 2019. Even in the prime minister's constituency of Varanasi, the government has managed to construct just around 8,000 toilets in two years as against a target of two lakh toilets.
Pune corporation to focus on community toilet construction
Apart from the construction of individual household latrines, the Pune municipal corporation has decided to focus on constructing community toilets to make the city free from open defecation. The corporation plans to come up with public toilet units in places where constructing individual household toilets is not feasible. One hundred and sixty seven locations have been identified so far and the project is expected to be completed by January 2017.
Nashik schools fall short of prescribed toilet numbers
Civic schools in Nashik have been found to be short of nearly 44 toilets against the prescribed number under the Right to Education Act (RTE) 2009. In addition, 29 of the existing toilets have also been rendered useless and are in various stages of disrepair. The Act requires one toilet unit with three urinals and a latrine to be present for every 120 students.
Ghaziabad to get its own solid waste treatment plant
The Ghaziabad municipal corporation will have a solid waste treatment plant of its own at the Pratap Vihar landfill site. The plant will initially be able to treat close to 300 metric tons of waste, nearly half of what is dumped in the landfill everyday. Ghaziabad generates close to 850 metric tons of waste on a daily basis and the corporation has plans to set up four more treatment plants across the city.
This is a roundup of important sanitation related news published between September 24-30, 2016
Lead image courtesy: India Resists