Entire stretch of Alaknanda river in Chamoli district ODF: DM

The entire stretch along the banks of the Alaknanda river in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand has become open defecation-free (ODF) thanks to the Centre's Namami Gange project, District Magistrate Vinod Kumar Suman told reporters here today.
The river is one of the two headstreams of the Ganga, the other one being Bhagirathi.
All the gram panchayats, consisting of around 30 villages on either side of the river, from Mana village and Badrinathpuri near its origin till the last point in the district at Gholtir and Sari villages, have been transformed into open defecation-free zones, he said.
The drive to make the entire area open defecation-free under the Namami Gange project was launched on World Environment Day (June 5) this year and within 25 days, around 811 villages have built toilets on their own, the DM said, adding that "everyone" in Joshimath development block near the China border and the remote Deval development block has got toilets now.

He said efforts were on to make the entire district open defecation-free by December with the help of all the departments concerned, people's representatives and villagers.