ODF Verification, West Bengal

The state of West Bengal has been a front runner in providing access to sanitation to its rural population.The state government launched the Mission Nirmal Bangla (MNB) to provide universal access to sanitation and after launching of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), i.e., the SBM (G) by the Government of India (GOI) on the 2nd October 2014, the MNB has been aligned with the SBM (G). West Bengal has become an ODF state. Now, there is need for sustaining the ODF status for which SBM(Grameen) Phase II has been launched by the GOI.

Planning for ODF sustainability will require rechecking the ground reality and making interventions for appropriate improvement towards ensuring improvement in quality and sustainability of use of the toilets. In this context, Brahmandiha Gram Panchayat of Indpur Block in the district of Bankura suggested having second round of verification to understand present sanitation status of their GP after being declared ODF during first round of verification. Accordingly, mobile application was developed by SIGMA Foundation and made available with the GP to facilitate verification task. The application developed for verification will save remarkable time in collecting, consolidating the data and also
preparing verification reports. This introduction of application will also help in uploading the verification status on GoI portal with lesser time as compared to earlier approach.