AKSHAY IS ALL FOR A CAUSE
Actor Akshay Kumar’s surprise visit to a village in Jaisalmer led it to become a ‘model village’ for twopit toilets in homes
Be it highlighting the problem of open defecation through his film Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (2017), or making people aware about menstrual hygiene through Pad Man this year, actor Akshay Kumar seems to be always trying to inspire change, that too even after his films released.
Recently, when the actor was shooting in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, for his underproduction film Housefull 4, he got a chance to further the cause, yet again. “While cycling before shoot early morning, I ventured into a remote village and started talking to a family about whether they have a toilet at home. I figured that they did have a single-pit toilet, but were unaware of the benefits of the two-pit toilet technology,” says the actor. He went on to show them, on his phone, a social campaign that he had done along with coactor Bhumi Pednekar, for the Swachh Bharat Mission under the Ministry of drinking water and sanitation. The ad elaborated on the benefits of the twin-pit or two-pit toilets.
“Bhumi and I did this ad to help spread an important message. The twin pit toilet is the safest rural toilet technology, recommended by the WHO and the Government of India,” says Akshay, elaborating how research has shown that one of the reasons rural households might hesitate in building this technology is the stigma associated with emptying of the pit. However, he explains that a pit in a standard twin-pit toilet model for a family of six members roughly takes five years to fill. “The waste can then be redirected to the second pit, and it becomes compost of khaad in six months to a year. This is also known as sona khaad (golden fertilizer) because of high nutritious content,” he says. The actor added that the family he visited has now installed a two-pit toilet for a cost of mere ₹1,500, and “all households in the village have done that too”. — HTC