Maintaining cent per cent use of toilets by people at panchayats is much more important than achieving cent per cent target in constructing toilets.
To ensure total use of toilets, Alamarathupatti panchayat has created a Social Security Group, comprising local women volunteers, to motivate villagers to always use toilets and avoid open defecation.
Briefing the novel idea here on Tuesday, Alamarathupatti panchayat president B. Rajalakshmi said women volunteers started their service at 3.30 a.m. ever day to stop men and women going to open fields, and continued their surveillance till 6.30 a.m. The same surveillance would be repeated in the evening.
Ninety per cent of households in the village had constructed toilets and two per cent started using community toilets. Social Security Group was one of the many efforts taken by the panchayat in changing the attitude of the people, she added.
Now, the panchayat was facing problems in implementing the task continuously.
With no funds, the panchayat had been struggling to disburse even salary to workers.
The president was badly in need of funds to maintain Social Security Group. Though the members of the group were volunteers, Ms. Rajalakshmi felt that some incentive should be given to encourage them to work efficiently.
When she approached Gandhigram Trust for help, Trust secretary K. Siva Kumar assured her that he would extend financial help for three months on a trial basis.
If the results were encouraging, the Trust would make alternative arrangement for continuous flow of funds for maintaining the group.
Initially, the Trust would offer Rs. 15, 000 for three months and the panchayat would shell out Rs. 7,500 for achieving cent per cent use of toilets.
