The Indian Institute of Human Settlements (IIHS) observed World Toilet Day by organising an awareness programme on the importance of sanitation and hygiene at Indira Nagar in Edamalaipatti Pudur where open defecation continues to be prevalent.
A tenement with over 146 houses, at least 130 of them did not have a toilet in the house and depended on a toilet complex. A total of 16 of them constructed toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission. However only six are functional. The people defecate along a pond nearby, as the community toilets are over a kilometre away. “The women are unable to go to the toilet at night and therefore go to the open space,” they said.
As part of the programme, the residents were asked to map their homes and the availability of functional toilets in an exercise called participatory mapping. “It is important that we inculcate the need for toilets. It is from these realisations that the people will start to use them,” Sugantha Priscilla, senior specialist, Social Development, IIHS, said. Drawing, slogan writing and other programmes were organised on the occasion.
Meanwhile, Gramalaya in association with Reckitt and Jagran Pahel inaugurated Harpic World Toilet College, a training and capacity building centre for sanitation workers. A total of 45 sanitation workers of Tiruchi Corporation took part in the one-day programme.
Gramalaya, in collaboration with Reckitt and Jagran Pahel, has planned to train 3,000 selected sanitation workers in three cities - Tiruchi, Kochi and Kurnool by March. The participants were awarded certificates, bags and personnel protective kits.