Sanitation success
North 24 Parganas, the country's most populous district, shows the way to achieve total sanitation and sustain it
India's most populous district, North 24 Parganas, in West Bengal deploys pro-poor schemes to attain Open Defecation Free status
ARISHA MALLA is a worry-free mother these days. “My teenage daughters do not have to go out in the dark to relieve themselves,” says the resident of Barasat I block in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district. Two years ago, Malla and several other people in her locality constructed latrines inside their houses under the government’s Total Sanitation Campaign. “Today, no one defecates in the open,” says District Magistrate Antara Acharya.
In October 2016, the district was declared open defecation free (odf). While the announcement makes it the 36th district in the country and third in the state to earn odf status, its success is remarkable for a few reasons. North 24 Parganas is the most populous district of the country, and several pockets here are economically backward. “These conditions make implementation of sanitation programmes challenging,” says District Planning Officer Bhaskar Pal.
So to begin with, the residents were categorised on the basis of reasons they lacked the basic facility. The survey, conducted at the beginning of the financial year 2013-14, showed that most people, including the old and disabled, did not have toilet facilities because they could barely afford to construct one. Then there were those who did not build latrines due to lack of awareness about health and hygiene.
The officials had a plan ready to overcome these hurdles. They promoted the construction of toilets under housing
schemes for the poor—Indira Awaas Yojana of the Union government and Gitanjali of the state government. Latrines were built under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme so that people could get paid for constructing their own toilets. For timely completion, officials set a monthly target for gram panchayats and trained about 2,850 additional masons. The target was kept low to make it easily achievable. In fact, all gram panchayats had attained total sanitation seven months before the district earned odf status.
The authorities could achieve total sanitation within a short span because 69 per cent of households in the district had constructed toilets under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (nba), says Deepak Sanan, advisor to Kolkata-based non-profit clts Foundation. nba is a demand-driven programme initiated in 2009 by the previous United Progressive Alliance government. It was relaunched as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in December 2014. And by December 2015, every household in the district had a toilet.
Campaign sustained
“More than building toilets we focussed on creating awareness on using them,” says Acharya. At the beginning of the financial year 2016-17, the district administration launched a new phase of the campaign— Nirmal Uttar—which aimed at making sanitation sustainable.
“We introduced an eight-week programme between July and September,” says Pradipta Dubey, district coordinator of Swachh Bharat Mission. The programme focussed on a specific area every week. Special cleanliness drives were planned at centres of the Integrated Child Development Services, government offices, public sector units, educational institutions and gram panchayat offices. Awareness programmes were conducted at religious places and schools. Self-help groups were roped in to monitor effective implementation of awareness programmes.
Acharya, who had led a similar movement in East Midnapore, says the district administration created dramas, songs and poems around better sanitation practices and roped in public transport systems, religious leaders and school children for spreading awareness and for effective communication.
Messengers of sanitation
“I am a part of the surveillance committee in our school. We make sure that no one goes to defecate in the open during or after school hours,” says 10-year-old Mishella Roy from Barasat I block. While there has been a significant improvement in people’s behaviour because of our surveillance, it is tough to change the attitude of the elderly towards sanitation, she says.
Roy recounts how she could not persuade her grandmother to use the toilet her father built with government help two years ago. She started using it only recently after her arthritis pain became acute and she could not walk long distances to attend nature’s call.
“I had never seen or used a toilet before. So, initially I was reluctant to use it,” says Suchita Bose, Roy’s grandmother. “Now that I have started using the toilet, I find it convenient. My health has also improved. These days I suggest my friends to set up latrines and use them,” she adds.
Behavioural change cannot be achieved overnight, says Sahauddin Malla, supervisor at the block development office of Barasat I. But once achieved, people realise its virtues (see ‘Benefits of using toilets’).
Data with the district administration shows that between 2012 and 2015, when the campaign was at its peak, cases of diarrhoea reduced by 75 per cent. Prevalence of moderate malnutrition among under-five children reduced by 5 per cent, while that of severe malnutrition reduced by 57 per cent.
The district is now gearing up for solid and liquid waste management. It ranks 14th in the country for efficient solid and liquid waste management in a recent survey report of the Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. So far, Bagda is the only block that has managed its solid and liquid waste.
While waste management is important, Sanan says the district authorities must conduct proper evaluation of the status of open defecation. This will help understand whether the behaviour of people has actually changed and whether the excreta is being disposed of in a safe manner. Or else, the district may lose its edge.
Construction of toilets was promoted through WZR KRXVLQJ VFKHPHV Gitanjali and Indira Awaas Yojana. Under MGNREGS, people got paid for building their own toilets