Rural Bengal is now ‘open defecation free’: Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata, Aug 03: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has declared rural West Bengal as open defecation free (ODF) and said that her government will now focus on solid waste management.

Around 1.35 crore households in rural Bengal have been covered by the 'Mission Nirmal Bangla', which aimed at making all villages open defecation free (ODF) by October 2.

"I'm happy to share with all of you that rural Bengal is now open defecation free. Government of India has confirmed our achievement which was our mission towards cleaner and greener environment and safe living," Banerjee tweeted on Friday night.

The WB Chief Minister made another important announcement through her Facebook post: the State Government's next mission would be solid waste management.

Earlier, Nadia district administration had received the UN Public Service Award in 2015 for the project 'Sabar Souchagar', which made the district the first-ever open defecation free (ODF) district in the country. Since then, there has been a step-by-step progression, with a few districts being declared ODF every year, culminating in this achievement of a 100 per cent open-defecation free rural Bengal.