Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal on Monday urged all villages and gram panchayats in the state to follow the footsteps of district Sirsa’s Godikan village, which has decided to marry off their daughters only in the families who have a toilet in their house.
Inspired by Akshay Kumar-starrer movie ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’, the gram panchayat of village Godikan has announced to not marry off their daughters to families which do not have toilets in their house.
The Chief Minister took to Twitter on Monday to appreciate the decision taken by Godikan village in Haryana’s Sirsa district.
“The Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat project envisioned an India free of the open defecation and a toilet in each home. The decision taken by the Godikan village is really appreciable,” said the Chief Minister in a tweet.
In another tweet, Manohar lal said, “I urge all villages and gram panchayats in the state to follow the footsteps of Godikan village, which has decided not to marry off their daughters to families which do not have toilets in their house.”
Notably, the State Government had last year arranged a special screening of movie ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’ for the village sarpanches of Haryana in an effort to sensitize them about cleanliness and encourage them to work towards a ‘Swachh Bharat’.
The movie, which had released last year, highlighted the issue of open defecation in rural India and focused on importance of better sanitation facilities in the country. The satirical comedy had reflected the message of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and was based on a true life incident where a bride leaves her husband because the latter does not have a toilet at his residence.
last year, the BJP led Haryana Government had also announced that all rural areas including 6205 gram panchayats in the state has become open defecation free (ODF) and subsequently, an ODF plus campaign has been launched for sustaining the ODF status through effective solid and liquid waste disposal management.
In line with Centre’s project ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’, Haryana Government had launched ‘Swachh Haryana, Swachh Bharat’ campaign in the year 2014 to achieve total sanitation by October 2, 2019.