Bhubaneswar, June 5 : In a bid to empower women, the Odisha government on Friday handed over the operation and maintenance of four Septage Treatment Plants (SeTPs) to women Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in the state. The treatment facilities were handed over to women SHGs in Berhampur, Baripada and Sambalpur and to a transgender SHG in Cuttack by Housing and Urban Development Minister Pratap Jena through video conferencing. "SHGs are now at the forefront of all development activities including sanitation in Odisha and have proven their ability time and again. Women SHGs have been managing the operation and maintenance of community toilets very well across several cities in the state," said the Minister. "So, we took this decision of handing over the operation and maintenance of SeTPs to the SHGs for better community ownership and participation," he added. Department secretary G. Mathi Vathanan said the SHGs have been chosen after careful evaluation of their capacities and past track record and have been trained thoroughly and rigorously on different aspects of operation and management. The treatment plants were handed over to the SHGs through a service contract between the concerned Urban Local Body (ULB) and the SHGs. The ULBs will continue to provide assistance and technical support to the SHGs during the agreement period. "We are happy that the transgender and women SHGs have come up to the level of managing a septage treatment facility which requires technical and managerial skills which was earlier managed by engineers of the department," the secretary said. Odisha has adopted the Decentralised Wastewater Treatment System (DEWATS) technology for the treatment of faecal sludge and septage emptied from toilet septic tanks. The technology was preferred considering its cost-effectiveness and ease of local maintenance systems for operation and maintenance. "It is a momentous event for the SHGs and all our members involved in this activity. We have completed the training and are really excited to take over the reins," said Swapna Rani Tripathy, a member of the Agrata City Level Federation (CLF) of SHGs that took over the plant located in Mohuda in Berhampur. Besides these four cities, SHGs will also be engaged in other functional as well as future SeTPs. With more than 90 additional septage treatment plants coming up in the state by next year, and with more than 32,000 existing SHGs across 114 towns and cities, community engagement for operation and maintenance of sanitation facilities holds enormous potential. /IANS