Biratnagar: A consultation programme with civil society representatives was organized in the conference room of Industry and Commerce Association, Narayangadh on September 23, 2008 for the preparation of third South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN). In the programme organized in the coordination of NGO Forum for Urban Water & Sanitation and Freshwater Action Network (FAN) Nepal, the participants have strongly demanded that the government should focus on the common issue of sanitation.

The consultation programme was focused on four major themes including Sanitation and Sustainability, Sanitation and its correlation with development, Future aspects of sanitation and strengthening institutional arrangement for sanitation.
Director of Guthi Anil Sthapit stressed that the civil society should play a vital role to bring improvement in the sanitation sector.
Chairman of Citizen Action Forum Laxmikanta Sharma suggested that household waste should be managed at homes as there is lack of dumping site in Chitwan and household waste can be converted into wealth by making compost fertilizer from the waste. 

Complaining that the Nepal Government had made many commitments in the previous two SACOSAN conferences held in Dhaka and Islamabad but has not fulfilled them, executive director of NGO Forum for Urban Water & Sanitation Prakash Amatya said, “This consultation programme is organized to raise civil society voices in the third SACOSAN conference to be held in New Delhi in the near future.”
Stressing that the government should enforce strict law so that all the Nepalis will have access to safe drinking water and sanitation, general secretary of Federation of Drinking Water and Sanitation Users Nepal Indra Tamang told that there should be separate line of budget for sanitation.
Secretary of ‘Nepal Basobas Basti Samraksyan Samiti’ Hari Pariyar expressed his view that the government should include remote and squatter settlements for the success of the campaign of making Chitwan a model district in sanitation sector.
SACOSAN is a South Asian Ministerial level conference with the objectives of improving the sanitation situation in the region. SACOSAN has become an important part of the policy debate in South Asia, providing an opportunity for national and regional level lobbying. The first SACOSAN was held in Dhaka of Bangladesh in 2003 and the second in Islamabad of Pakistan in 2006. The third SACOSAN will be held  in November in New Delhi, India.

Source: Gorkhapatra; Loktantra Sandesh National Daily; Kayakairan National Daily; Chitwan Post Daily, September 24; Annapurna Post, September 25, 2008