Uttar Pradesh has marked a significant achievement under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) Phase II, reaching a milestone with all of its 95,767 villages, which is 100 per cent of the villages in the state, attaining ODF Plus status under Phase II of the Mission.

An ODF Plus village not only maintains its Open Defecation Free (ODF) status but also successfully implements either solid or liquid waste management systems.

As on date, 4.4 lakh (75 per cent) villages across the nation have declared themselves ODF Plus, which is a significant step towards achieving the SBM-G phase II goals by 2024-25, the Ministry of Jal Shakti said in a statement on Thursday (22 September).

According to the ministry, Uttar Pradesh picked up momentum in current financial year, as on 1 January 2023, the state had only 15,088 villages that had been declared ODF Plus.

Over a short period of just 9-month, the State mobilised the efforts for achieving ODF Plus in a mission mode, the ministry said.

"Over 80,000 villages achieved ODF Plus status in last 9 months and this accelerated pace resulted in timebound achievement of ODF Plus," it added.

Capacity building at Panchayat level and on site handholding, were key factors for rapid implementation, the ministry said.

"Of the 95,767 ODF Plus villages in UP, 81,744 villages are ODF Plus Aspiring villages with arrangements for Solid Waste Management or Liquid Waste Management, 10,217 villages are ODF Plus Rising villages with arrangements for both Solid Waste Management and Liquid Waste Management and 3,806 villages are ODF Plus Model villages," the ministry said.

Overall, so far, 15,649 villages have arrangements for solid waste management, and 95,048 villages have arrangements for liquid waste management, it added.