Lanjigarh: Three villages of Batelima gram panchayat and one from Basantpara Gram panchayat near Lanjigarh celebrated their Open Defecation Free (ODF) achievements on 26th May. Present on the occasion were Dr. Balabhadra Majhi, MLA Lanjigarh as Chief Guest of the programme along with other distinguished guests Mr. Prasanna Sarangi – PD, DRDA, Kalahandi, Mr Jalaj Malpani, CFO, Vedanta Limited, Lanjigarh, Mr Tapan Behera – DPC Kalahandi, Mr Fakir Mohan Majhi – Lanjigarh Block Chairman, Ms Tulsi Nayak – Vice Chairman, Mrs. Kusum Manjari Praharaj -CDPO, Mr. Saroj Pattanayak – Tahasildar, Mrs. Harmeet Sehra – Chief Community development officer, Vedanta Limited, Lanjigarh and Sarpanch from 6 nearby Grampanchayat among others.
Vedanta Limited as part of their CSR efforts, supported these villages in collaboration with District Administration through an integrated development program. While the District Administration provided the support for community mobilization and technical assistance, the residents of these villages constructed toilets on their own with great pride and honour. At the beginning of the programme, villagers staged a ‘Walk of Pride’ led by the village Nigrani Committee exhibiting their clean and faeces-free village. ‘Nigrani Committee’ has been established by the locals to ensure zero open defecation and penalise anyone violating the set norms. A fund has also being started by the villagers to build community toilets for visitors and guests.
During the occasion, residents gathered in large numbers to participate in ODF celebration. The landmark achievement was etched on a board, jointly unveiled by the PD- DRDA, Kalahandi and CFO, Vedanta Limited. Four villages Batelima, Rasbandel, Parbatipur and Sindhbahali were declared Open Defecation Free and were each presented with rupees twelve thousand by the dignitaries.
Comments are closed.