Sunsari district has been formally declared an open defecation-free (ODF) district. With this, Sunsari has become the 56th district to be declared as the ODF district.
Minister of State for Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives, Ram Kumari Chaudhary, Minister for Forest, Tourism and Environment of the government of Province No 1, JagadisH Prasad Kushiyat and Deputy Director-General of the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage, Manoj Ghimire jointly declared Sunsari as ODF district by watering a plant and lighting lamp amidst a program organized here on Tuesday.
Sunsari district was declared ODF on the basis of a monitoring report which showed that the total 144,347 houses in the district had constructed toilets and had been regularly using them.
The monitoring was carried out by more than a dozen non-governmental organizations including the Women Development Association and Prayas Nepal with support from the District Sanitation and Cleanliness Coordination Committee, the Water Supply and Sanitation Division Office, Sunsari, the Local Sanitation and Cleanliness Coordination Committee and the UN Habitat.
All the educational institutions in the district, local levels, journalists, political parties, religious leaders and the team of Mission ODF as well as the social leaders involved in this campaign had also worked actively in declaring Sunsari as an ODF district.
