After toilet anthem and Toilet Ek Prem Katha, here is a toilet as a Rakhi [Raksha Bandhan] gift. If all goes as planned, girls in Belagavi district will get toilets as Rakhi gifts from their brothers.
The zilla panchayat will facilitate the gift by funding the cost of construction.
Gram panchayat officials will identify houses where sisters want to receive toilets as gifts on Raksha Bandhan. On the day of the festival, gram panchayat officials will organise a small function in the villages where all such eligible brothers and sisters will be asked to gather. The brothers will sign a document that will act as an application to build a toilet in their house. The sisters will tie Rakhis to their brothers and receive the applications. The scheme is applicable to married sisters too.
Target
“We have a target of completing construction of over 75,000 toilets before October this year. We are utilising every opportunity that comes our way,” said R. Ramachandran, zilla panchayat chief executive officer and in-charge Deputy Commissioner.
Raksha Bandhan symbolises the love between brothers and sisters and assures the sisters of their brothers’ protection. From now on, these brothers will show that they care about the safety of their sisters by gifting them toilets and educating them about using toilets, he said.
To end open defecation
“Our target is one toilet for each household. There are around 5.5 lakh houses without toilets in the district. Of these, around 4.75 have built one. Over two lakh toilets were built in just one-and-a-half years. The district plans to end open defecation by Gandhi Jayanti on October 2 this year,” he said.
Belagavi Zilla Panchayat is also using the services of ASHAs and anganwadi workers to motivate families to build toilets and use them. Around 3,700 ASHA workers and others are going around houses without toilets and speaking to residents.
One of the biggest complaints against such programmes is that government agencies promote the construction of toilets, but not their usage.
“We are, therefore, giving equal focus to the use of toilets not just their construction,” Mr. Ramachandran said.
