Mysuru:  As many as 15 persons of various Gram Panchayats who played a crucial role in convincing people to build toilets in rural areas of the district were felicitated at a programme organised jointly by Zilla Panchayat and Swachh Bharat Mission at Kalamandira in city on Nov.19.

Those who were felicitated are Beluvegowda of H.D. Kote taluk for convincing to build 245 toilets, Gram Panchayat Member Shivakumar for 192 toilets, Bannikuppe Cheluvaraj for 280 toilets,  K.R. Nagar taluk’s Sangeetha for 300 toilets, Hunsur taluk’s Madesh for 200 toilets, Mahesh for 250 toilets, Mysuru taluk’s Ravikumar for 300 toilets, Devalapura Gram Panchayat Member Nagaraj for 608 toilets,  Nanjangud taluk’s Yashoda for 250 toilets, including Mallesh, Venkatesh and Kanthamani.

Zilla Panchayat President Nayeema Sulthana felicitated all the achievers on the occasion.

Speaking after releasing a handbook on  the importance of cleanliness, Nayeema Sulthana  quoted the famous statement of Mahatma Gandhi “Sanitation is more important than political freedom.” Apart from quoting the  slogan “Cleanliness is next to godliness,” she urged villagers to build toilets in every house as it is a must to maintain sanitation. Such measures are a must to end open defecation which is the root cause for various diseases, she said and added that people from rural areas must give all co-operation to make the district open defecation-free (ODF) completely.

ZP CEO administers oath

Speaking after administering ‘Swachhameva Jayate’ oath and delivering the keynote address, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer (CEO) K. Jyothi said that nationwide sanitation movement which began from 2014 to end open defecation as part of World Millennium Development Goals has today led to the announcement of Karnataka and Mysuru district as open defecation-free.

She wanted the Gram Panchayats to identify people who still have not constructed toilets. She said that the ZP kept the funds ready for Swachh Bharat Mission activities.

She said the ZP has been conducting the street plays and other programmes across the district to sensitise the villagers to build toilets besides to end open defecation.

Minimise the usage of water, set up eco-friendly toilets   

Speaking on sanitation and cleanliness, environmentalist Ravikumar said that there are differences on the usage of water for sanitation and cleanliness purpose between city and rural areas. People are using 40 litres of water for toilet use daily in urban areas, he said and added that efforts must be taken for conservation of water sources. Continuing, he said that water used for cleanliness and toilets was flowing into drains without being treated and added that programmes must be held in adoption of technology to recycle and reuse this water as half of the population in the world is facing water scarcity accelerated by climate change and population growth.

Ravikumar suggested the civic agencies and policy makers to  come up with schemes to set up eco-friendly toilets.

Awareness rally

Earlier, artistes of Spandana Kalathanda and Anikethana Kala Balaga performed a play spreading the message on the importance of sanitation and cleanliness, minimise the use of water and put an end on the usage of plastic for environment protection.

Prior to this public programme, hundreds of students of JSS Mahavidyalaya at Saraswathipuram, Mahabodhi School and Maharaja High School took out an awareness rally on the thoroughfares of the city appealing the public on the importance of sanitation and cleanliness. The rally culminated at Kalamandira.  

ZP Members Krishna, Mangala Somashekhar, Dr. Roopa, ZP Deputy Secretary Shivakumaraswamy, Assistant Director Manoj and others were present during the occasion.