Greetings and roses from government officials greeted villagers opting for open-air defecation by the side of Hinjli-Shergarh Road near Gobindpur in Ganjam district of Odisha on Wednesday morning.
It was a joint Gandhian effort of the education department and district administration to create awareness against the prevalent open-air defecation in the area. The team of government officials led by Project Director (PD), District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) B.A.Kulange, included District Education Officer (DEO) Sanatan Panda, officials of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS), administration and education department. The stretch of road which was targeted by them is infamous for round the year for foul smell because of open-air defecation by inhabitants of Gobindpur under the Shergarh block and some adjoining areas.
The team of officials had reached the spot at 4.30 a.m. The villagers who had come out in the small hours to attend nature’s call were surprised to find these government officials, who did not oppose them but offered them roses and pamphlets describing the evils of open defecation with respect.
“Later we reached Gobindpur village and held a meeting with the villagers regarding the reasons behind open-air defecation and persuaded them to have toilets at their home through support of government,” said the DEO.
Inhabitants of Gobindpur took a pledge to make their village open defecation free in a month. It was decided that in next few days a survey would be conducted at the village to identify households that do not have toilets at home. When they apply to block administration office for financial support to construct toilets, their work orders would be passed within a week so that toilets get constructed in a month. School going students of these families will be made catalysts of this toilet construction project.
Education department and government schools have become major catalysts to end open-air defecation in Ganjam district. From the start of new academic session in June, students of all government schools in Ganjam district had to speak out whether they had a toilet at their home or not instead of saying ‘present sir or madam’ during morning attendance.
It was an effort to make children aware about the social menace, which is the root cause of several water-borne diseases. To increase efficacy of this project further, information related to families lacking toilets received from schools was directly linked to the local administration for immediate action.
