State’s first house sanitation census in Udupi

Team Udayavani, Oct 6, 2021, 8:47 AM IST

Image for representation

Udupi: For the first time in Karnataka, a house-to-house sanitation census has been started to study the hygiene status in Udupi district. Based on this census, various plans would be formulated to improve the sanitation status of the district.

The census covers about 2.41 lakh houses in 155 villages in the district and a comprehensive report on sanitation status is being obtained. A total of 800 people have been assigned, at a ratio of four census enumerators per 1,000 population. The census started on October 2 and plans to end by October 12.

Data being collected:

The sanitation census has questions related to important information such as toilet use, waste disposal method, waste sorting and disposal methods, liquid waste management method, etc.

Awareness program

At the time of the sanitation census, families are also being made aware of the need for good sanitation practices, the importance of twin-pit toilets, laws on the abolition of manual scavenging, wet-waste management methods, dry-waste management, menstrual waste management, and greywater management.

Piped water connectivity assistance

Information and assistance is also being provided about the government schemes. The residents are made aware of the bathroom pit maintenance, organic waste management that could be taken up under the MGNREGA program.

Data is also collected on the houses without piped water connection and assistance would be given for potable water connection.

The pamphlets and manuals distributed in the census have QR codes that can be easily scanned to view five videos on hygiene.

Udupi Zilla Panchayat CEO Dr. Naveen Bhat said, “Through sanitation census, the district administration will get clear information about the need and problems of sanitation and drinking water of every household. Based on this information, cleanliness programs will be organized and clean drinking water will be provided. With this, Udupi can be made a fully hygienic and clean district.”