Bhubaneswar, 21/9:A Letter of Understanding (LoU) was signed between the departments of Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) and the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water (PR&DW), UNICEF and Centre for Policy Research (CPR) today for urban-rural convergence on Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSM) and Plastic Waste Management (PWM) in august presence of Minister@jenapratap66#The initiative is being launched in Angul, Balasore,Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Khurda, Mayurbhanj and Sambalpur which will be scaled up to all districts in the State subsequently. This intervention is a step towards fulfilling Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik’s vision of building “Swachh Odisha and Sustha Odisha Odisha as a champion State in FSM and Solid Waste Management (SWM) for its efforts in implementing decentralised waste management across 114 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). With this step, the rural population will also be able to avail sanitation facilities located in the nearby urban areas. the Gram Panchayats will now be tagged to Urban facilities like Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant (FSTPs) and Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) for effective faecal sludge and plastic waste management.