Chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of panchayat unions have been asked by Vellore Collector R. Nanthagopal to ensure total sanitation. There were asked to ensure it by seeing to it that individual toilets were constructed in all houses in the rural areas in order to prevent open defecation.
Presiding over a meeting of chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of panchayat unions at the Collectorate here on Monday, Mr. Nanthagopal said that people in the rural areas should construct and use the individual toilets in order to prevent open defecation which caused many diseases. Sixty per cent of the communicable diseases were caused by the practice of open defecation. The government introduced the total sanitation campaign in order to prevent open defecation.
He asked the presidents of the village panchayats who do not have individual hygienic toilets in their houses to set an example to the people by constructing and using them. He asked the people’s representatives in the panchayat unions and panchayats to create awareness among the people about the need for construction of individual toilets.
The Collector said that self-help groups have been given the responsibility of undertaking the work of constructing individual toilets in the villages. Arrangements have been made to undertake the work of producing the materials required for the construction through SHGs comprising members who have received training in masonry under the scheme of imparting vocational skills to the youth.
Mr. Nanthagopal also asked the panchayat union functionaries to prevent stagnation of sewage water in the villages in order to prevent breeding of mosquitoes which caused diseases during the rainy seasons.
He also asked them to take steps to compost the biodegradable wastes in order to prevent breeding of mosquitoes in the accumulated wastes.
M. Manohar Singh, Project Director, District Rural Development Agency, explained the ways of preventing the transmission of viral diseases and the methods of constructing individual toilets.
