Koppal district’s relentless efforts to create awareness among the people to eliminate open defecation and adopt safe sanitation practises has caught the attention of the authorities concerned at the national level.
Its efforts have been featured in one of the five short films launched by the Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, on the Swachh Bharat people’s movement titled, An Open Mind, in honour of sanitation champions across the country to encourage the adoption of safe sanitation practises and realise dreams of Open Defecation Free India by 2019.
The film was launched at New Delhi recently by Narendra Singh Thomar, Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation.
The films have been created by BBC Media Action and are available online at: http://bit.ly/2a3sDul.
The five films showcase real-life stories of individuals from different walks of life who have made the Swachh Bharat mission their own by adopting innovative ideas to encourage the use of toilets in their communities and adopt safe waste treatment practises. These stories are examples of a wider citizens movement across the country.
In the first of the five films titled Message, street plays of Koppal, Kinnar’s songs from Bhopal in MP and a Gaurav Yatra from Rajasthan showcase how the message of cleanliness has been spread through innovative mediums that have successfully reached the masses.
The other four films include the efforts of individuals, over-coming hurdles, children as change agents and the results.
During the visit of the team sometime in May to Bagnal Gram Panchayat in Koppal taluk, street plays rendered by a team of artistes, and songs by Sharnappa Vadigeri to create awareness among the people about the ill-effects of open defecation and motivating the people to get a toilet of their own constructed were shot.
“It is a matter of pride for the district and also the State with Koppal figuring among the champions across the country in its endeavour to make the district open defecation free,” R. Ramachandran, Chief Executive Officer of the Koppal Zilla Panchayat, who attended the launch of the films, told The Hindu .
Award
Meanwhile, Huligi Gram Pancyayat in the district bagged a State-level award, comprising Rs. 1 lakh in cash and a citation with regard to solid waste management, which is considered as a model.
Apart from that, elected representatives go round prostrating before the people to avoid defecating in the open and a girl had resorted to a hunger strike to bring pressure to bear on her parents to get a toilet constructed and had succeeded.
