To inculcate the spirit of cleanliness amongst villagers in rural areas and check the common menace of open defecation, an incentive amount of Rs12000 was decided by the district administration to be given to villagers who would initiate construction of toilet in their homes as part of Swachta abhiyan. Shyampur Kangri village has achieved the target of 133 leaving short of 5 homes which are yet to undertake construction of toilets in their homes.
Speaking to the Pioneer, nodal officer of Shyampur Kangri village Mohit Choudhary said, “In all 138 toilets were to be installed in the Shyampur Kangri village. In the month of February, 48 were remaining when inspected and by the month of April, only 5 remain sans toilets.”
When asked if the incentive scheme launched recently in April has some positive response, Choudhary said, “Different strategies were adopted to counsel the villagers to take up the cause of sanitation. Through NGO 10,000 rupees were paid in some cases and the villager was asked to contribute 2000 rupees. In extremely poor cases, we asked them to contribute in any mode viz giving labour, facilitating transport of construction material or whatever resource they could provide. Rest of the charges were borne by the administration.”
Notably Open defecation is a big hurdle for making India clean and healthy under Swach Bharat Abhiyan, a flagship programme of Indian Government. There are 316 Gram panchayats in Haridwar but not a single Gram Panchayat is open defecation free (ODF) in the whole district. Around 90 thousand lavatories are yet to be made in rural areas. Most of the villagers who have individual toilets in their homes, they also go out for open defecation so a habit needs to be cultivated amongst the villagers, feel the sanitation experts.
Notably total sanitation campaign (TSC) was launched in Haridwar by the Government of India in 2002 to eradicate the practice of open defecation under Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan. Around one lakh individual lavatories had been made in rural areas since then. But according to the 2012 base line survey around 90 thousand lavatories are yet to be made in the district. In 2014 this programme was launched again as Swach Bharat Abhiyan by the Government of India in which felicitation amount has been increased from Rs4600 to Rs12000 to each household.
Speaking to the Pioneer, project manager RD Jakhmola of Swajal project said, “Toilets are being made according to the 2012 base line survey. But households have increased after 2012. We will conduct new survey for rest of the household. In the current situation not a single Gram Panchayat is open defecation free in Haridwar.”
Practice of open defecation is the biggest problem and without community support it cannot be achieved. Villagers make pucca (cemented) houses at their own expenses but they want help for making toilets, he added.