This story is from January 12, 2017

In desperation, villagers turn washrooms into storerooms

Toilets are hardly of any use in Garmal village as it faces acute water scarcity. The villagers are struggling to get drinking water during the monsoon. For want of better uses of toilets, the villagers have thought of novel ways to turn them into storerooms or as places for safekeeping.
In desperation, villagers turn washrooms into storerooms
<p>Representative image <br></p>
Key Highlights
  • Toilets are hardly of any use in Garmal village as it faces acute water scarcity.
  • The villagers are struggling to get drinking water during the monsoon.
  • For want of better uses of toilets, the villagers have thought of novel ways to turn them into storerooms or as places for safekeeping.
PUNE: Whoever thought toilets could be put to so many uses? Just blame it on the ingenuity of villagers in Nashik.
For want of better uses of toilets that have been foisted on them by the state administration, the residents of Garmal village have thought of novel ways to turn them into storerooms or as places for safekeeping.
Godubai Palwe, a villager, would rather have a concrete roof over her head than a spanking new toilet in her dilapidated shanty.
“At least it would protect us during the monsoon,” reasoned Palwe. She and others in her village are confused over the government’s priority on building toilets. But they have decided not to oppose construction of toilets as they think they can be put to better use as storerooms or for keeping valuables.
“We live in mud houses which get inundated during the monsoon. We don’t know any government scheme which will help us to build houses, but some people are now saying that we will get money if we construct toilets. Whatever it is, if we get a cement structure we can use it for many purposes” she says. The women here felt that the bigger the size of the toilet, the better as they could take shelter in it during heavy rains.
Toilets are hardly of any use in the village as it faces acute water scarcity. “There are some toilets here, but hardly anyone uses them. There is perennial water scarcity. If we are struggling to get drinking water during the monsoon, how can people be expected to use precious water in toilets?” asked Mangal Mahale who runs a small grocery shop.
A state officials who has worked on the sanitation campaign in Nashik district said, “We have put in lots of efforts to convince people not to use toilets for keeping valuables but they are unwilling to pay any heed to our advice,” he said adding that some women wanted to keep pictures of idols in toilets.

However, in Ahmednagar, villagers have already started using toilets but for bathing and washing clothes. “Earlier women use to bath in open. Now with toilets they can take a bath safely” said Yelubai, a villager in Akole taluka.
Sanitation expert Gourisankar Ghosh, who played a pivotal role in launching India’s first cleanliness and sanitation campaign in 1980s, felt Swachh Bharat Mission isn’t a people’s programme. “It is time the government step back and do a mid-course correction and also tap the private sector in the mission. There is more publicity than proper communication that has left the people confused,” he said.
author
About the Author
Radheshyam Jadhav

Radheshyam Jadhav is a special correspondent at The Times of India, Pune. He holds a Ph.D in Development Communication, and was the winner of the British Chevening Scholarship in 2009 for a leadership course at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His covers civic issues and politics. He is also the author of two books on Mass Communication published by Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation.

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