Odisha bagged three national awards in the prestigious Annual India Sanitation Coalition (ISC)-FICCI Sanitation Awards-2022, which were declared on Wednesday.

Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) was awarded with the ‘Best Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM) Model – Urban’ and Sasmita Barik, a Swachha Sathi from Bhadrak Municipality was awarded with the ‘Women Changemaker in Sanitation’ award.

In addition, Jajpur district was awarded for ‘Best Skilling Initiative in Sanitation’ at the awards function held in New Delhi.

The ISC-FICCI Awards Ceremony and Conclave is an annual national event celebrating leaders, rising stars and organizations, who are driving growth in the sanitation value chain for achieving a “cleaner, healthier, safer, happier and a gender-equal India.”

The Housing & Urban Development Department (H & UDD), Government of Odisha, has been winning awards under various categories in the annual ISC-FICCI Awards Ceremony since 2019.

The award for Bhubaneswar was received by Sulochana Das, Mayor, BMC in the event along with team members.

The ‘Women Changemaker in Sanitation’ award was received by Sasmita Barik along with Additional Secretary and Additional Mission Director SBM (Urban), H & UDD, Durgesh Nandini Sahoo. Both the awards are the recognition for Odisha model of decentralized and community led sanitation.

The BMC was awarded for its comprehensive implementation of FSSM across the value chain along with building an enabling environment by engaging multiple stakeholders and executing wide-ranging interventions in the capital city.

The FSSM model has focused on community-led demand generation, strong enforcement of regulations against illegal sludge disposal, innovative ways of cesspool vehicle service delivery, optimum utilization of the Septage Treatment Plants (SeTPs) and city-wide communication campaign, etc.

Twenty-six-year-old Sasmita Barik, a Swachha Sathi from Bhadrak, was awarded for her active leadership and proactiveness in keeping the city clean and hygienic by spreading awareness among households on both Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM) and Solid Waste Management (SWM) and motivating citizens to adopt appropriate sanitation practices.