“The government plans to bring the sanitation system of both urban and rural parts of the country under a collective method. We are already working to set targets in bringing the whole nation under a strong sanitation management and the progress in this regard is also now clearly visible", LGRD Minister ABM Tajul Islam said while talking to Bangladesh Post.
Asa part of the government's move to bring the whole country under an effective sanitation management, the month long campaign styled “national sanitation month” is going on, the Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives (LGRD) minister added.
He mentioned that they are working to create awareness among people. If it is not possible to bring the sludge under a strict management across the country, it will create environment pollution and health hazards as well. So all these matters were under active consideration behind designing the sanitation month. Involving people with the move is a vital objective.
"As you know that there was no sewerage system in Dhaka city earlier, now a number of programmes have been taken to develop a strong and sustainable sewerage system. We are also establishing sewerage treatment plant through which all the pickle sludge will be managed by incinerating them", the LGRD minister said.
He said the government has kept the rural sanitation under active consideration. A plan has been taken to treat the scattered deposited sludge in different parts after collecting them. Work is going on with a set target to bring the whole nation under a network, means under a strong sanitation management.
The minister added that open defecation has come down almost at zero level in the country but still Bangladesh is lagging a bit behind in the 'safely managed sanitation' index of the SDG-2030.
Not only in the month of October, the effort of raising awareness among people on sanitation, waste management and health education will go on round the year through extensive publicity.
The Minister claimed that the achievement in sanitation sector as per the set goals of SDG is now clearly visible and the progress is much better. Now the government is thinking of developing quality sanitation methodology for better hygiene of people.
Replying a query, minister said actually the demands, characteristics and patterns of the MDG and SDG are not the same. Some more goals and requirements have been added with SDG than that we had in the MDGs. Moreover, more emphasize has been laid in SDG on making the achievement and goals sustainable.
"The target has been given much importance in the SDG. Although there have a good reputation of Bangladesh in terms of 'Sanitation and Clean Water for Everybody', we feel that we have to ensure sustainable water supply for everyone everywhere. The government has undertaken a project to set up laboratories in all the 64 districts across the country to see that the water, being used by people, is not polluted water. Earlier there were only 12 laboratories all over the country. So it was not possible to test quality of water or to check whether it is drinkable or usable, which was a big problem", the Minister said.
He hoped that once the laboratories are established in all the districts the problems will be over and people will get their services promptly in their own locality.
He pointed out that the on-going sanitation campaign across the country is an effective way to make people aware about water they use in their day to day lives. And this is the way how to attain the set targets, because it is not possible to reach the target without participation of people.
"So we are working keeping pace with our targeted goals. And we are involving people of all walks of lives in the whole process of sanitation", the Minister added.
