DIBRUGARH, Nov 26 - The initiative of the district administration and the District Water Sanitation Committee (DWSC) to make the district a Open Defecation Free district under Swaach Bharat Mission (Rural) received a boost with the Dibrugarh University (DU) giving its consent to be a partner in the programme.
The agreement was arrived at a meeting at the university campus yesterday under the chairmanship of DU Vice Chancellor Dr Alak Kumar Buragohain.
The meeting was attended by Public Health Engineering Department Chief Engineer (Sanitation) Dipak Mazumdar, Additional Chief Engineer NU Ahmed, UNICEF, Assam Wash Specialist Sweta Patnaik, Registrar, Dibrugarh University, Dr MN Dutta and other deans and faculties of the university and district civil officials. The meeting decided that DU will prepare a memorandum of understanding to be signed by the Deputy Commissioner and Registrar of Dibrugarh University within the next 10 days.
In the first phase, the Dibrugarh district will be taken as a pilot district where joint efforts towards Open Defecation Free will be taken, followed by other six districts falling under Dibrugarh University in consultation with concerning DWSC. The meeting proposed to first form a College Health Sanitation Club (CHSC) in 27 colleges of the district followed by other colleges in six other districts. Each college will nominate one nodal teacher and also ensure systematic monitoring and development of documentation mechanism. The CHSC will be jointly reviewed by DU management and DWSC.
The meeting proposed to hold a convention of college principals and designated nodal officers at DU on December 20 to make them aware about the role and responsibility in the Open Defecation Free process.
The meeting finalised the proposal to construct two sanitary complexes and one compact solid waste management plant from SBM fund at DU and nearby area by the university authority.
Addressing the meeting, the Vice Chancellor appreciated the efforts of the DWSC. �The partnership will be the first of its kind among all universities and I assure all expertise and technical know-how will be provided by the university for the success of the programme,� he said.
