Students help admn make 29 Sirsa villages open defecation free

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Sirsa, August 31

In a unique initiative, the Sirsa authorities have made 29 villages of the district open defecation free (ODF) by involving schoolchildren.

Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Sirsa district authorities had selected 28 villages — four from each of the seven administrative blocks of the district.

“Later, Jodhpuria village from the Rania block jointed voluntarily. Now we have 29 villages that are totally free from open defecation,” said Sharandeep Kaur Brar, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Sirsa.

The villagers are Bhagsar, Chatrian, Kamal and Ranga from the Baragura block; Chakjalu, Diwankhera, Pana and Panniwala Raldu from the Dabwali block; Budhimeri, Kotli, Moosli and Pratap Nagar from Ellenabad; Dhigtania, Gusaiyan, Jasanai and Randhawa from Chopta; Anandgarh, Chakrian, Rohirawali and Tappi from Odhan; Chakrian, Firozabad, Ghoranwali, Jodhpuria and Sultanpuria from the Rania block; and Dhani Bharokha, Dhani Kheowali, Kanganpur and Theri Baba Sawan Singh from the Sirsa block.

“The drive to make these villages ODF began on July 15 and we had set the date of August 15 to achieve the target,” said Sukhwinder Singh, who looks after the project in the ADC office.

“We have involved schoolchildren from these villages, who not only went from house to house to motivate people to construct toilets in their houses, but also told the villagers not defecate out in the open,” he said.

The Swacch Bharat Mission, which was earlier known as the Niramal Bharat Abhiyan and launched in 2007, aims at constructing toilets in every household, making villages and urban areas ODF.