Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)

The programme's scope includes rolling out the DIGIT-based FSSM platform across all the 115 ULBs of Odisha, covering 119 FSTPs, in a phased manner. The choice of the FSTPs within phases will be based on their operational readiness and the availability of TRPs in the state.

The multi-step approach that commences with go-live readiness planning across all ULBs is showcased below:

Infrastructure Checklist for the ULBs and FSTPs

Programme Governance Structure

Training & Capacity Building

Training and capacity building are considered to be an important aspect of this rollout. The Odisha Water Academy (OWA), which has been established as a Centre of Excellence under the Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO) and the Housing & Urban Development Department (HUDD), Government of Odisha, is playing an important role in ensuring the sustainability of the programme by taking up the training and capacity building responsibilities. The participants from the 33 ULBs of phase-1 have successfully completed the training programme held under the Odisha Water Academy (OWA) at Unnati Bhawan, Bhubaneswar, on September 20th and 21st, 2022.

Empowering the FSSM stakeholders with the knowledge of the platform, the various services that are going to be delivered through it, and its key features and functionalities, are going to be key to driving the adoption of SUJOG-FSSM at all levels of the service delivery chain. With this objective in mind, the multi-tier training structure has been designed.

Multi-tier training structure

It is proposed that the complete training plan and the creation of the training assets will be owned by eGov Foundation, while the master trainers for training the ULB FSSM executives and TRPs will be provided by OWA from its pool of resources with the support of eGov Foundation. These master trainers will be trained by eGov Foundation, and they will further disseminate the knowhow to ULBs, first at a central location, and then physically by visiting each of the ULBs within a cluster for refresher sessions.

1. eGov to onboard and train the master trainers identified by Odisha Urban Academy.

2. Master trainers will help in training the ULB employees with support from OWSSB and eGov during the go-live training sessions.

3. Master trainers will hand-hold the ULB, and collect feedback from them post training.

Training sessions for ULB FSSM executives and technical resource personnel

1. Nominated participants from the ULBs will be trained by OWA master trainers at a central location, which would be Bhubaneswar. The training will be conducted in two batches.

2. The master trainers (MTs) will train the ULB-nominated persons (1 nominee from each ULB and 1 technical resource person) to become field trainers in their ULBs. In turn, these field trainers will be responsible for training all the other users, such as ULB operators, FSTP operators, PSSO staff, etc.

3. After training the field trainers, MTs will be expected to conduct assessments to ensure the effectiveness of these trainers. The MTs will also inform the ULB nominees about the adoption metrics and how to track these metrics on an ongoing basis.

4. In case the ULBs are not able to send the participants to a central or cluster location, the OWA MTs will need to travel to each of the ULBs to conduct in-person training. All the expenses associated with such travels undertaken by the MTs will be borne by the OWA. MTs will be expected to carry their own laptops.

5. If the ULB nominees are traveling to a central location, the to and fro travel cost will be borne by the individual ULBs, while the stay and local commute within Bhubaneswar will be borne by the OWA.

6. If the ULB nominees are traveling to a district/cluster location, all the costs (travel, stay and any other expenses) will be borne by the individual ULBs.

7. Resource requirements (to be arranged by OWA) for central or cluster location:

• Training venue/hall with computers and internet connectivity with a capacity of hosting tentatively 95-100 persons (central location).

• Big screen TV.

• Projector.

• Refreshments and other basic amenities for trainers and trainees.

Roles and responsibilities

Capacity building and adoption post go-live

The process is set up with the ULBs to meet and discuss the challenges, issues and insights from experiencing the platform and field, and to share it across with fellow ULBs. It is conducted at regular intervals with the help of the eGov team and ULB nominated individuals. This call is utilised to resolve issues (L1) from and bridge the knowledge gaps, if any. L2 issues are immediately raised as JIRA tickets and assigned to the impel team for quick resolution. This weekly call for capacity building also acts as a clear communication channel directly with the team for addressing portal, knowledge, and policy level issues.

Adoption Metrics

Change management and review plan

Weekly monitoring and support: All the state officials involved in the rollout of SUJOG-FSSM are part of weekly mentoring/monitoring sessions, which act as a channel for the ULBs to discuss insights, on-ground challenges, and issues related to the platform to obtain quick resolution. This ensures sustained adoption, resulting in over 90% of incoming requests being recorded on the platform across ULBs.

Bi-weekly reviews with ULB representatives: The EOs and COs were involved in the bi-weekly calls, which is chaired by the additional secretary and engineer-in-chief, to discuss and identify gaps in FSSM service delivery and SUJOG-FSSM adoption. Additionally, identified issues, policy change requirements, and challenges facing ULB workers were also highlighted for immediate resolution.

Learnings and Recommendations

Learnings from the pivotal problems

The pivotal problems that were explored during the pilot phase are listed below:

eGov, in partnership with the Government of Odisha, abstracts the challenges and pivotal problems that the SUJOG-FSSM platform will address:

1. Broken chain of custody from waste generation to safe disposal.

2. Non-availability of verifiable, trusted data at various levels of aggregation to all actors.

3. Absence of well-defined standards for sanitation.

4. Stakeholder behaviour is often misaligned with safe sanitation practices.

Initial gaps in driving adoption

The initial gaps in driving adoption during the pilot phase are mentioned below:

1. Infrastructure gaps across ULBs.

2. Lack of regular monitoring and understanding the gaps in usage.

3. Change in personnel handling the application.

4. Gaps in refresher training to the ULB personnel.

Actions taken based on the learnings

The actions taken during the pilot phase and before the onset of phase-1 are enlisted in the below sections.

Pilot ULBs

1. Letters for procuring the infrastructure across all ULBs and FSTPs.

2. Regular monitoring of daily usage through the adoption tracker.

3. In-person refresher training across all ULBs.

4. A strong support system to resolve the issues, if any on a regular basis.

Phase-1 ULBs

1. Monitoring the infrastructure procurement across all ULBs and FSTPs.

2. Plan for hands-on-training to ULB SPOCs and employees who are going to use the application.

3. Adoption monitoring at all levels and a support system to resolve issues, real-time.

Recommendations for process standardisation across the state based on the ongoing engagement and field visit:

For a seamless state-wide scale up and adoption by the ULB employees and citizens, it is important to standardise processes and policies in the service delivery process. Following are the key recommendations for standardisation and steps to be taken to implement the same:

1. Allocating FSSM executives responsible for taking all desludging requests from the citizens: Within ULB, a single person should be made responsible for handling the FSSM requests coming from the ULBs own phone helpline/14420/walk-in citizens, and logging them into the SUJOG-FSSM platform and assigning them to desludging operators (DSOs). This person will be the designated FSSM executive in the ULB. This person could be the sanitation dealing assistant (DA), or the single window operator or an ALF member as per the FSTP operations arrangement within the ULB. They should fulfill the following basic criteria:

- Have basic computer literacy.

- Work within the sanitation wing (FSSM) of the ULB.

- Have a sound understanding of the FSSM operations followed in the ULB.

1. Enabling private operators to use the SUJOG-FSSM: ULBs need to ensure that all the private operators are empaneled to the ULB, and mandatorily start logging the applications in the SUJOG-FSSM portal or inform the ULB FSSM executive for each application and trip as they are using the services of the FSTP. This will bring the private operators within the ambit of the FSSM transformation and provide an oversight to the ULB administration. It will ensure that ULBs will have some oversight on the quantum of requests serviced by private operators and check any potential mishandling of sludge. The requests serviced daily can be reconciled against the number of trips at the FSTP end. For this:

- ULB EOs to issue notices to all private DSOs operating within the ULB to comply with rollout requirements (data and training) and start using the SUJOG-FSSM platform to record the requests.

- ULBs to ensure that mandatory usage of the SUJOG-FSSM platform by private DSO gets included in the licensing terms either immediately or at the time of renewal of license as per the rules of the current contract.

1. Standardising pricing of trips by cesspool vehicles: In phase-1 ULBs, there are certain ULBS where there are different pricing of trips by cesspool vehicles for multi-trips. For example, a ULB which has a 3,000 liter capacity of cesspool vehicle, the price of the first trip to an applicant’s location will be Rs 900 and for the second trip, it will be Rs 700. Besides, there are different pricing of the same volume of cesspool vehicles across ULBs. In case of urban-rural convergence, the pricing structure devised as of now is for panchayat areas within a certain radius (say 20 km) from the ULB boundary, and service charges include a base price plus fuel charge (say, base price is Rs 1,200 plus fuel charges @6 km per litre). Therefore, standardising the pricing of trips by cesspool vehicles will be explored.

2. Collation of details regarding entities where there is zero pricing: There are certain entities (such as a ULB itself, community toilets, etc.) from which no fees are collected for septic tank/pit cleaning. The same is also applicable for slums in certain ULBs. Therefore, ULBs will have a list of entities where zero pricing is there to avail cesspool cleaning services.

3. Streamlining and standardising the agreement between a private DSO and the ULB: Currently, there are three types of mode of operation of cesspool vehicles in ULBs that are “ULB Owned and ULB Operated”, “ULB Owned and Privately Operated” and “Privately Owned and Privately Operated”. However, in case of private DSO, there are scenarios that were explored during the phase-1 training session, which will be considered while designing/structuring the agreement of a private DSO with the ULB:

a. ULB Owned & Privately Operated:

i. Kashinagar Case:

Each trip amount is deposited by a private DSO daily at the ULB. At the end of month, a fixed amount (say Rs. 12,000) is given to the private DSO. (Cases may also arise where instead of a fixed amount, a trip-wise amount may be given to a private DSO daily or at the end of month).

ii. Khordha Case:

ULB & private agreement is done in which a private DSO pays a one-time amount (say Rs 5 lakh for 2 vehicles) to ULB for some years (say 7 years). During these 7 years, the manpower cost, and maintenance cost is taken care of by the private DSO, and it also keeps all the trip amounts with them.

b. Privately Owned & Privately Operated:

i. Angul Case:

Currently, the private DSO is taking the amount of all trips without giving any amount to the ULBs. But the ULBs are planning to send a letter to the private DSO to pay a certain amount to the ULB (at FSTP) for each trip that is being disposed of at an FSTP as the FSTP is a government property used by a private DSO.