One of the issues raised by Shri Meenakshisundaram, Secretary,
Rural Development and Panchayat
Raj at our last Board meeting was that of Village Sanitation.
There are two areas of
concern here - both are interlinked :-
I. PUBLIC SANITATION which
includes -
- roadside drains to carry
away rain and kitchen/ washing/bathing water;
- proper drainage around
handpumps and wells;
- soak pits to hold
kitchen/washing/bathing water which usually flows on
to roads and where it is not possible to lead this water into roadside drains;
- management of cattle
sheds and areas where cattle are tied during parts
of the day.
As regards the management
of cattle this can easily be linked upto the management of Biogas
plants. For example, often we find cattle stabled at night in a
shed next to the house;
the floor of the shed is of mud and is sloped towards the front;
this results in absorption
of matter and runoff towards the front where it causes sanitation
problem. If the floor
of the shed could be improved (when biogas is constructed usually
at the back of the
house) by granite slabs and sloped towards the back, all the
matter deposited could be channelled
to the biogas plant. Further the cattle are often tied in front of
the house, on the road
or nearby for long periods; here again matter collects which is
lost or mixed with mud
which then goes with the dung into the biogas digester; could this
area also be properly
floored and waste collected, channelled to the plant? We should
remember that cow-dung
is a scarce resource and therefore every effort should be made to
ensure that it is
properly collected and utilised.As regards the management of waste
water around wells and handpumps, this could be channelled
into troughs for drinking water for cattle, or to a kitchen garden
or a community fuel
plot.
Public sanitation to my
mind has been neglected even in our project areas. We
think of desilting
tanks, deepening wells making roads in our community action
programmes; why not include
village drains, soak pits and proper management of waste from
cattle/sheep?
Public sanitation
will be given top priority in MYRADA in the future.
II. The second area under village sanitation is HUMAN
DEFECATION. This is a major health
hazard and is becoming a major problem since the areas of privacy
are shrinking. Efforts
to motivate people to use latrines both private and common have
failed. To begin with
why should people bother if the village itself is a cess-pool?
Therefore public sanitation
has to come first; the village must be clean for people to be
motivated to keep it so.
How do we tackle this problem of human defecation? The answers
depend on each area and
often on each situation; but there are answers - look for them,
and let us know.
FOLLOW UP OF THE NOTE ON
SANITATION :
Channagundi Village, situated about 40 kms. from H.D.Kote has
102 families of which, 50 families
belong to the target group. The chief occupation of the villagers
is agriculture; the
crops grown are mainly cotton and ragi with patches of tobacco and
chillies. Two families
are engaged in Sericulture. Animal Husbandry is an important
income generating activity.
On an average each family has about 15 animals.
MYRADA/PLAN started work in
this village in the year 1982. Drinking water has been provided
with a pump and an overhead tank. 16 taps are providing water to
the villagers at different
points. The cost of the drinking water supplies scheme was shared
by the project and the
village. The project spent Rs.57,850/, while the peoples' cash contribution was Rs.13,000/,
in addition to providing free unskilled labour which could be computed to the extent of
Rs.10,000/-. Seven families have taken loans for petty business.
One has received a loan for a bicycle shop; one for a fair price
shop and one for opening
a barber shop.
Although the village houses
had tiled roof houses, the sanitation was poor. The houses were
built in four rows. The space in between the rows of houses was
covered with big boulders
and the water from bathrooms and kitchens was flowing freely on to
the roads. As mentioned earlier there is a large number of cattle
maintained by the villagers. This resulted
in production of large quantity of cow-dung which was heaped at
various places at the
entrance of the village. The
sanitation problem was discussed with the villagers and they
agreed to do something about
it.
Mr.M.K.Ali, Project Coordinator and Mr.Bhide, Training
Coordinator also contacted theJSS College, Nanjangud and invited
the students of the college under the National Service Scheme
(NSS) to work along with the people in the village to improve the
public sanitation. Before
the students came, the project staff and the villagers planned out
the various activities
to be undertaken in the village. 60 students with three programme
officers of the college
came to the village on 24.12.1987 and stayed upto 02.01.1988.
During this period, the
villagers and the students installed 35 soakpits, constructed
three roads within the
village and repaired the Bus route passing by the side of the
village. The total length of
the road constructed and repaired was about 1 km. On either side
of the roads they dug
up drainage channels approximately 2 kms long. All the boulders
which were lying around
were shifted out of the village premises and the shallow pits were
filled. They constructed
40 Astra Ole's (smokeless chulas) with the help of the BDO Staff.
Another 40 Astra Oles
were expected to be installed shortly. 60 saplings of mixed
varieties have been
planted on the road side. All these activities were carried out
within a period of 10 days.
The villagers joined the students and provided all the unskilled
labour required for the
above activities. The help of various Government Departments like
the Forest Department,
Adult Education Department, Horticulture Department, Revenue
Department, Sericulture
Department, Animal Husbandry Department and Regional Publicity
Department and the BDO
was mobilised in carrying out the above activities and educating
the villagers regarding
the need for proper sanitation.
The last day of the
function was attended by Jagadguru Shri Shri Shivarathri Deshi Kendra Mahaswamy, who is the
Head of Suttur Mutt, who are running the JSS college from
where the students came to work in the village. The Zilla Parishad
President, who attended
the concluding function said that the Channagundi village which
was looking like Kallugundi,
now looked like Honnagundi.
The important aspect of the
above programme is not so much the provision of roads and sanitation
in the village, but creating an awareness among the people of the
need to keep their
surroundings clean. When asked why they had not undertaken this
work earlier on their
own, the people answered that they had not realised that there was
anything wrong with
their surroundings till they were shown the change which resulted
from clearing the area
and stopping the dirty water flowing in front of their houses.
Besides they said that there
was nobody to take the initiative to do the work and guide them as
to what has to be done
to improve the sanitation in the village. The huge heaps of cow
dung still remain as they
did not find a place to dig compost pits. This could be remedied
by providing Gobar Gas
plants in the villages. For the present, the H.D.Kote staff is
busy constructing only one
cubic meter plants under a separate project financed through PLAN
International.Since the villagers have an average of 15 head of
cattle, they could be given two and three cubic
meter capacity Biogas plants. The construction of these plants
would be taken up in the
next year. This would solve the problem of storing the dung.
Besides, the people are desirous
of having lavatories, a central road drainage to connect the waste
water from their houses
and an addition to their school building. These activities would
be taken up and
completed before June 30, 1988. So far the expenditure has been
minimal. Accommodation
etc., was provided by the people. The construction of lavatories
and one kilometre of
drainage lined with stones will be the only items on which
expenditure will be incurred.
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