Nanjangud: One of the pet projects of Narendra Modi Government under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan of making India open defecation free has been fulfilled by a hard working, committed Panchayat Development Officer (PDO) Mahadevaswamy.
With the co-operation of the villagers, he has been instrumental in making a village open defecation free and thus bagged the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan 2018 ‘Champion’ award.
He has been selected as ‘Champion’ along with others from Mysuru District — T. Narasipur Taluk’s Swachh Bharat coordinator K.Nagaraju, PDO K. Somaiah and Talakad Gram Panchayat Member Ranganath.
There are 1,752 families living in Nanjangud Taluk’s Haradanahalli GP limits that include Hucchagani, Ibbala, Kaaturu, Basapura and Allianapura villages.
While Nanjangud stood last in toilet construction in the district, Haradanahalli stood last at 45 among the GPs in the taluk. However, after it was declared open defecation free, it has risen to the top spot in the taluk.
In the one month Abhiyan, PDO Mahadevaswamy by constructing 849 toilets has achieved something remarkable. The concrete road at the entrance to the village itself was where people would urinate and use it to defecate and as a result the whole area was stinking.
He first held meetings with the villagers and created awareness among them about the importance of hygiene and using toilets. However, his efforts did not bear any fruits. Hence, he started a drive with the help of his staff canvassing in autorickshaws with a mike, in the evenings from 8 pm to 10 pm and early mornings from 5 to 7 to stop open defecation.
Apart from this, he would go around the open fields with the Gram Panchayat staff and cover the faecal matter with mud. Then he involved the elected representatives, the taluk and district-level officials and finally the whole village and succeeded in his mission to make the whole village defecation free.
Mahadevaswamy has also been instrumental in Haradanahalli Village getting the Gandhi Gram Puraskar in 2017, by showing excellent progress in implementing the MNREGA scheme.
He has also identified himself as a writer and his work ‘Ambedkar Kanneera Kshanagalu’ has seen five reprints and the college students have adapted it for staging a play. A documentary of the village becoming open defecation free has gone viral on YouTube with more than 16,000 people viewing it.
This post was published on March 14, 2018 6:32 pm