They sing bhajans to spread loo campaign

HUBLI : A zilla panchayat member is using a holy route to stop an unholy practice. T Janardhan Huligi, representing Huligi of Koppal district, is singing bhajans to curb open defecation in his constituency. Earlier, he had come up with a whistle-blowing campaign against it.
Though bhajans are usually sung in temples, Janardhan has deployed the same to enlighten people on clean roads and the importance of maintaining hygiene.He takes teams of bhajan singers along with a person in Mahatma Gandhi’s garb, to drive home the message.
Speaking to TOI, Janardhan, a former president of Koppal ZP, said rural folk accord great sanctity to bhajans. So he decided to deploy this as one weapon in his mission. “Instead of local devotional songs, we render bhajans like ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’, a favourite of Gandhiji. This had been sung by Gandhi’s followers during the 241-mile salt march from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi in 1930. Bhajan enthusiasts, particularly youths, have even bought manjira (hand cymbals) on their own to conduct routine processions in their villages,” he added.
He said he instructed public development officers of six gram panchayats, that fall in his ZP constituency, to form teams, headed by panchayat members, in each ward to take out the bhajan rally in the mornings and evenings. “We aim to construct 4,000 toilets and hope to achieve 100% results by Republic Day, on January 26,” he added. The bhajan-singing campaign will continue until then.
Channappagouda Hallikeri and Srinivas M, villagers from Shivapur, where the bhajan programme was launched 10 days ago, said that usually the songs are sung during Shravan month and religious programmes. “A group of people entered the open defecation areas early in the morning singing bhajans. We suddenly stood up and observed that many elected representatives and officials were accompanied by locals. Then we were convinced on the need to have toilets by the team. As their approach was polite, we agreed to give applications for construction of toilets at our residences,” he narrated.
Another villager Somavva said that during walkathon in the village, elected representatives and officials also entered houses, where toilets were built and demonstrated methods of cleaning them. “We realized mere construction of toilets won’t serve the purpose and that we should also maintain sanitation ,” she admitted.
Terming the campaign as “holy’, Koppal ZP president Amaresh Kulagi observed that people are now understanding the “holy nature” of toilets. “I have also issued an order to organize bhajan campaigns in about 600 villages in the district,” he said.