Haryana district to free itself from open defecation

CHANDIGARH - After over a dozen villages across the state succeeded in curbing the practice of defecation in the open, Haryana’s Ambala district is giving a shot at making the entire district free from the practice.

“Ambala will be made free from open defecation, for which February would be observed as an intensive sanitation coverage month under the complete sanitation program by Ambala district administration,” a state government spokesman said here Monday.

Ambala Additional Deputy Commissioner Sanjiv Verma, who is also chief executive officer of the district rural development agency, said: “During the campaign people would be made aware of ill-effects of open defecation and the facility of available toilets in the villages would be reviewed.”

A meeting of village heads (Sarpanches) and village council members (Panches), Anganwadi workers and volunteers of other government and non-government agencies of Shahjadpur and Naraiangarh would be held Tuesday at the community centre in Naraiangarh to initiate the campaign, Verma said.

He added: “In the first phase of this campaign, the Sarpanches and Panches at the block level will be motivated to implement the programme seriously. Efforts will be made to connect the common man with the campaign and to make him aware of the harms of open defecation.”

“For this purpose, vigilance committees will be formed in villages. In the second phase of the programme, in addition to the villages already declared as ‘Nirmal Grams’, the target to construct toilets in five villages in each block would be achieved. In addition to constructing community toilets for women in villages, those constructed earlier would be reviewed and people would be urged to maintain sanitation,” Verma said.