This Panchayat Is Celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi In An Unique Way By Building Toilets For The Villagers As A Gift

While in most parts of India, Ganesh Chaturthi is being celebrated by worshipping Ganpati idols, the Hunsur Taluk Panchayat in Mysuru district celebrates the festival by gifting toilets to all its villagers

Written By: Anisha Bhatia | Edited By: Sonia Bhaskar |

August 30, 2017

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Highlights

Hunsur Taluk Panchayat is constructing toilets for all villagers as a gift
The aim is to construct 2,625 toilets during Ganesh Chaturthi
The Panchayat soon aims to go open defecation free

New Delhi: Hunsur Taluk Panchayat in Mysuru district has been struggling to become Open Defecation Free for some time now. To get past the hurdles, the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi is being used in a unique way by the panchayat officials. As Lord Ganesha is known as the vanquisher of obstacles, the panchayat decided to use the festival to construct toilets for all its villagers as a gift this year. The main motive behind this activity is to make the Hunsur block completely open defecation free. The Taluk Panchayat has already constructed 90 per cent of the targeted number of toilets in its 41 villages and aims to complete the rest in a week, as a part of their Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations.

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We want to make our village Swachh, in order to fulfill this dream; we have decided to construct toilets for all our villagers. The aim is to make Hunsur Taluk completely open defecation free during the Ganpati festival, said a senior officer from Hunsur Taluk Panchayat.

From organising awareness camps on why it is necessary to make the village open defecation free to guiding people on how to construct toilets in their home and providing special training for using these, the Taluk Panchayat did it all.

We just don’t want to construct toilet after toilet, but, want to make sure villagers use them. In order to make our open defecation sustainable, we in all our villages are holding special Swachh Camps, added a senior officer from Hunsur Taluk Panchayat.

Also Read: Eco-Friendly Ganesh Chaturthi: Ganapati Idols That Grow Into Plants After Immersion

While Mysuru was the first city in the country to be rid of open defecation, the district continues to struggle to attain the same status. By December 2016, only two of the 90 gram panchayats in the district had become open defecation free. Prior to Ganesh Chaturthi, the Panchayat had constructed around 52,000 toilets and the aim is to construct another 2,625 toilets during the festival.