Boosts quality of life in periphery
After marriage when I first came to village Santara I faced many difficulties as the villagers used to go for open defecation in dark and it’s even tougher in rainy season. There was also fear of snake bite. But now with the help of the Paradip Phosphate limited (PPl), we have constructed toilets in our houses which are much help to my daughter and daughter-in- law. They are not facing the same humiliation what I suffered 25 years back, says villager Pramila Behera.
“I am very happy that PPl has constructed separate girls’ toilet in our Baldevjew High School at Hasina. Now, we girls don’t have to search for a bush or secured places for attending the call of nature. The toilets are very nicely constructed with tile and marble and remain clean throughout. It has got the perfect enclosure and privacy is maintained. This is a proud property of our school and we have promised to take care of it,” Simuni Barik, a Class IX student maintains.
There are many more such Pramilas and Simunis in the villages of Bagadia and Mangarajpur panchayats. The PPl has changed their outlook, lifestyle and infused a new confidence among them. The PPl took the initiative on sanitation and hygiene by constructing toilets in 11 peripheral villages under two panchayats of Bagadia and Managarajpur in 2009 as a part of the project Millennium Development Goals, much before the call given by Prime Minster Narendra Modi on the Independence Day to industries to construct toilets under the CSR scope in schools, especially for the girls.
The PPl through its CSR programmes has not only constructed toilets with running water facility in all the schools in the two panchayats and beyond, it has also been helping families to construct their own IHls (individual household latrines), bathing enclosures for girls and last but not the least construct drains and soak pits near all the water sources for a population of 20,000 approximately. After a need assessment carried out in the periphery, the company kept working with the adolescent girls and other stakeholders in the community through “Meena Club”, a concept of UNICEF to find a lasting solution to the sanitation problem faced by them.
Toilets in the primary schools have hand washing platforms on the outer wall as midday meal is provided to the children. The toilets are constructed in the close vicinity unlike the earlier practice of having them in the farthest and filthiest corner of the premises. The PPl has constructed 850 IHl, 38 community bathrooms, provided water connection to 250 households and repaired and maintained 55 water sources. The entire programme is executed under the guidance of PPl MD SS Nandurdikar and COO DS Ravindra Raju.