Gift a toilet and become ‘Bhai number 1’! As per the latest initiative to promote construction of toilets in rural households, the Drinking Water and Sanitation department has come up with a new and innovative scheme to felicitate brothers who would gift toilets to their sisters on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.
The initiative has been taken to boost the ambitious project ‘Swachchh Bharat’ Abhiyan. The project will cover as many as 124 blocks and 2234 gram panchayats from August 10 to 18. With the purpose to create awareness about the ill effects of open defecation, the special drive has been planned especially, this year to mark this auspicious occasion.
Interestingly, an individual, who will take the initiative ahead and build a toilet, will be given ‘Swabhimaani card’ as a certificate of appreciation and will be honoured in social programmes by eminent personalities.
“The initiative will inspire everyone that is one important reason for linking one of the most ambitious schemes of the Central Government with this festival. It has mass appeal and has been initiated after the success of a similar initiative started in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh,” said Minister, Department of Water resources, drinking water and sanitation, Chandra Prakash Choudhary.
Notably, Jharkhand tops the list in the country when it comes to open defecation. According to the Census 2011 records, in Jharkhand, 92.4 per cent of the people residing in rural pockets do not have toilets, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.
The census report further States that in Jharkhand, the percentage of rural households with no toilets is West Singhbhum is as high as 96.3 percent followed by Khunti 96 percent and Jamtara 95.6 percent.
“The initiative is basically for the rural beneficiaries to transform their mindset and inculcate this practice among one and all. The department is expecting approximately 5000 people to come forward through this social approach. The beneficiary will just not get social recognition but will become the brand ambassador for the project of their respective villages and panchayats,” said Principal Secretary, Department of water and sanitation, AP Singh.
Moreover, through the project, the department will target only those people who require assistance in building toilets. “To avail the benefit of the scheme, a beneficiary has to start constructing the toilet, fill detailed application form after registering the details on the department web portal. The beneficiary name must appear in the list available with the department. After completing all mandatory work, the beneficiaries have to upload the photographs of constructed toilets on the portal. After examining all the criteria, money will be transferred to the beneficiary bank account through DBT,” added Singh.