“I will prostrate before you; please get a toilet constructed.” When Srinivas Karturi, president of Sriramnagar Gram Panchayat in Gangavati taluk of Koppal district, makes this impassioned plea to the villagers, he means it literally.
Getting up early each morning, Mr. Karturi accosts people heading towards the fields to answer nature’s call. He makes this plea not only verbally, but follows it up by falling at their feet. He also promises monetary help to those who promise to build toilets.
Sriramnagar Gram Panchayat has about 2,100 families, of which 441 have already got toilets constructed. To ensure that all houses have toilets by September, members of zilla and taluk panchyats have also been roped in to motivate at least 10 people to get toilets constructed.
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Incidentally, adopting novel ways to motivate people to opt for individual toilets and prevent open defecation is not new in Koppal district. Earlier, Janardhan Huligi, the then president of the ZP, had adopted a “whistling” campaign to deter people from defecating in the open. Every morning, he would stand near the fields and blow the whistle to “embarrass” those who came out to answer nature’s call. This method had also drawn some criticism.
Under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, relentless efforts are on to make Koppal district open-defecation free by 2016-17. At present, 1.3 lakh households have no toilets, and elected representatives and officials have taken up a massive drive. “Due to severe drought, the ongoing campaign was hampered, but now we have re-launched it with an aim to achieve the goal of making Gangavati taluk open defecation-free by October 2016, and the other three taluks by March 2017,” R. Ramachandran, Chief Executive Officer told The Hindu .