Ganjam: Mo Gaon Khata Initiative Bats Big for Achieving Sustainable Sanitation in Rural Areas

Berhampur: The Ganjam district administration has started the ‘Mo Gaon Khata’ project for achieving sustainable sanitation management in rural areas.

This Mo Gaon Khata or the organic manure production, is an end to end solid waste management project at the Gram Panchayat level, managed by the members of women self-help groups (SHGs) of Mission Shakti, informed Ganjam PD DRDA Shinde Dattatraya Bhausaheb.

The organic waste collected from the villages is being processed at the Micro Composting Centres (MCC) and converted into compost-manure.
Mo Gaon Khata is high quality compost made of waste being generated in the villages after being processed at the MCC. It is sustainable waste management technique and will help in keeping the environment clean and garbage-free. Besides, the compost will be of great help to farmers who are now turning their attention to organic farming.

The Mo Gaon Khata initiative has been started in 93 Gram Panchayats and has already been completed in 50 GPs in Ganjam district. The target is to complete 100 such GPs by October 2nd, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, the PD DRDA added.

The project is totally managed by the WSHGs, who have been provided battery operated vehicles for door-to-door collection of garbage and segregation of waste. The households have been provided separate dustbins for degradable and non biodegradable wastes, thereby ensuring segregation at source.

The SHGs collect, transport and process and sell the compost at a reasonable price. User charges have been fixed by the GPs for the market and households. The district administration is also planning to use the manure on plantation carried out under the MGNREGS.

Taking about the initiative, Ganjam Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange said that it is a step towards sustainable sanitation management in rural areas envisioned as Mo Swabhiman Swatch Ganjam.