A tweet made the day for 90-year-old C. Alagu Ambalam and his wife A. Angammal (85) of Achampatti village on Wednesday.
Abandoned by their two sons, the couple live in their one-room home in the company of four goats. The adjoining toilet, constructed by them under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, is their pride.
They have inspired a village to go open-defecation-free by being the first volunteers to take up construction of the toilet. This effort turned the spotlight on them when a tweet with the Prime Minister’s picture said: “A 90-year-old couple from Achampatti constructed a toilet in their home and inspired the entire village.”
Open defecation was rampant in the village as people preferred the fields and pond bunds to relieve themselves. According to a survey conducted by District Rural Development Agency, 145 of the 373 villages in the district did not have a toilet.
There was lot of diffidence among the residents to have a toilet near their home.
“I volunteered to construct the first toilet for which I had to dig up two pits to be used as septic tank in September last year. I and my wife assisted the masons and took care of the curing after construction,” recalls Mr. Alagu Ambalam.
Today, 141 of the 145 identified homes have toilets fitted with solar lamps provided by Madurai-based Devaki Hospital.
Members of the four houses, where toilets could not be constructed, use a public toilet, making Achampatti a ‘zero open defecation’ village, say DRDA officials.
The village is the first among eight panchayats in Alanganallur panchayat union to contribute to Swachch Bharat mission by putting an end to open defecation.
According to S. Murugan, panchayat president, convincing the villagers to have their own toilets with the money provided by the government was very difficult.
Inspired by Mr. Alagu Ambalam and Ms. Angammal, they slowly fell in line. The biggest advantage for the couple is that they need not have to walk a distance to the nearest open field to ease themselves.
“It was very difficult for us in the night. Now, the toilet has provided a sense of security for us,” says Ms. Angammal.
“Loneliness made our lives gloomy. The notice and recognition we got today have made us proud. This sense of pride will keep us going for some more years,” says Mr. Alagu Ambalam.
The couple, who do not have any land holding, survive on the old-age pension sanctioned for Ms. Angammal, free rice drawn from the public distribution system and occasional sale of goats.
