Thane district is moving 627 of its 706 ODF Plus villages towards the ODF Plus Model standard, with an annual digital assessment designed to ensure that sanitation systems remain functional beyond the achievement of open-defecation-free status.
The initiative, called Swachh Seva Aakalan, is being implemented in rural Thane under Phase II of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin). It will assess sanitation facilities at village level, verify their condition on the ground and identify improvements needed to keep services operational.
The programme shifts attention from declaring a village open-defecation-free to maintaining a wider sanitation system. Under the ODF Plus framework, villages are expected to sustain open-defecation-free status while also managing solid and liquid waste, keeping public spaces clean and ensuring that waste-management facilities are available and regularly maintained.
The district currently has 706 ODF Plus villages, according to the report, while 627 have reached the ODF Plus Model stage. The Model classification is intended for villages where sanitation arrangements are not merely recorded on paper but are functioning in practice and being maintained regularly.
The assessment will cover the sustainability of open-defecation-free conditions, solid and liquid waste management, visible cleanliness within the village, the operation and upkeep of waste-management equipment and the maintenance of community sanitation complexes. These criteria place day-to-day service delivery alongside the creation of sanitation infrastructure.
As part of Swachh Seva Aakalan, each gram panchayat will conduct a digital self-assessment every year. The gram panchayat secretary will enter information about the ODF Plus Model gram panchayat on the e-GramSwaraj portal. The information will then be placed before the gram sabha for discussion and verification.
Following the gram sabha’s review, required corrections will be made before the approved final information is submitted on the portal. This process gives the village assembly a formal role in checking whether sanitation services reported through the digital system correspond with conditions on the ground.
The initiative makes maintenance a central test of rural sanitation performance. A village’s classification will depend not only on whether it has achieved an open-defecation-free status, but also on whether waste facilities, public cleanliness measures and community sanitation assets continue to operate over time. The next formal step is the annual self-assessment and gram sabha verification process through e-GramSwaraj.
