India’s ‘Sulabh Sauchalaya’ going global

NEW YORK - The low-cost Indian toilet system, popularly known as Sulabh Sauchalaya, will now be taken to 50 developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East regions.

The movement’s founder, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, announced his organisation’s plans in a keynote address at the four day at World Environment and Water Resources Congress at Providence in Rhode Island Friday.

Addressing civil engineers and technical experts at the Congress, Pathak appealed to technical experts to join hands with his organization to achieve United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal relating to sanitation and hygiene.

Pathak and his team has developed an indigenous two-pit toilet technology that is not only cost-effective but can also be used in producing biogas. Recycling and reuse of human excreta for biogas generation is an important way to get rid of health hazards.

Sulabh would construct public toilets in developing countries to popularise the Indian toilet system to ensure proper sanitation, he said.

The Indian NGO has already played a key role in construction of public toilets in several countries including Afghanistan, South Africa, China, Bhutan, Nepal, Laos, Ethiopia and 10 other countries of Africa. It has already constructed public toilets in some of these countries.