Arifa and her daughters-in-law can now forget the ignominy of defecating in the open. The Open Defecation Free (ODF) campaign by the District Suchitwa Mission in the coastal panchayat of Chellanam has changed the lives of many families, including Arifa’s, there.
Even as the State is all set to declare its rural areas ODF, Ernakulam district takes pride in the fact that all its 82 panchayats had achieved the goal by mid October by constructing toilets for 7,814 families who were devoid of this basic facility in a baseline survey.
But the going was not always easy as there were challenges to be surmounted, especially in the tribal hamlet of Kuttampuzha in Kothamangalam block and the coastal Chellanam in Palluruthy block.
It was found that the government subsidy of Rs.15,400 was inadequate to construct toilets at Chellanam and Kuttampuzha where 650 and 758 toilets had to be built respectively. Hence, the district-level technical committee revised the allocation for Chellanam and Kuttampuzha to Rs.33,500 and Rs.28,000 respectively.
Realising that the project could not be completed in a time-bound manner if entrusted with individual beneficiaries, the District Sanitation Mission roped in the services of Vana Samrakshana Samithi at Kuttampuzha and Nirmithi Kendra at Chellanam.
National Service Scheme and Nehru Yuva Kendra volunteers, students, and NGOs also joined the mission to create awareness about the importance of toilets. A major challenge was the construction of toilets for five families in an island surrounded by shrimp farms at Chellanam. Construction materials, including ferro cement tanks weighing over 750 kg, had to be brought in multiple sorties using country boats, which was a logistical nightmare.
The foundation of toilets had to be raised by two to three feet, and ready-made septic tanks had to be used at Chellanam since conventional ones could not be dug owing to the low-lying nature of the region.
Construction was equally tough in the hard-to-access terrain of Kuttampuzha which is surrounded by forest. Construction materials had to be taken across the river and then carried another 20 km inside forest, which took up to five hours.
It was also a challenge to the change the mindset of Adivasis who had become used to open defecation. It took sustained efforts by the Suchitwa Mission to convince them.
Though making the region ODF is a commendable feat, the Suchitwa Mission authorities say the challenge now is to ensure that the achievement is not frittered away.
