Tall Claims In Back To Town

Primary Health Care depends on holistic health care approach from “Womb to Tomb” embracing prevention of all types of risk factor exposure including the provision of sanitary facilities. With all round development and with considerable population movement the need for safe water and toilet facilities in all the places has increased manifold. It is a day to day necessity which becomes cause for concern, if adequate water supply and toilet facilities are not available in all places of human movement. Otherwise this can often be embarrassing especially for women where they are away from home for long hours. To provide hygienic sanitation facilities to the general public, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak initiated the “Sulabh Shauchalaya’ movement ln 1970. With the aim to end defecation and provide proper sanitation facilities for both men and women, Dr. Pathakspear headed the mission to build Sulabh Shaucha!aya (public toilet) facilities all over the country. These efforts have been admirable arid paved the way for a clean arid open defecation free India. A large number of sanitation facilities built under the mission were not maintained properly due to use of outdated material. While the Sulabh Shauchalaya was a first step towards providing hygienic sanitation facilities, it could not accomplish it’s goals completely. In this regard our Prime Minister launched the “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” in 2014. It made the way Indians see cleanliness. Under this mission several public and house hold toilets have been installed. However the ground reality is that open defecation practice continues to exit. Few days back, a handful people gathered at a one-room District Record Room Anantnag for getting Revenue records of their land. The women greeted this author and they sat down on the floor inside, swapping stories about the day’s events as this writer was busy with the work of another person already present in his office. Their conversation was light hearted until someone mentioned hydration and the mood changed, ”we won’t be consuming any more liquids today”, said a 35 year old woman. If we do, we might have the urge to urinate but due to non-availability of toilets inside District Collector (Deputy Commissioner) office Anantnag it was not possible for them to urinate. This catched the attention of this author and I find it suitable to write against non availability of toilet facilities inside government offices and especially at public places.
If there is any toilet facilities in any market or office, it .ls not much better, though, because the facilities are rarely truly clean. According to these women, the public toilets are usually dirty, unt.Il and lacking in water. This author has spent almost one year in D. C office complex and has observed that all the visitors who come here for different works urinate openly towards the wall that separates court complex and D.C office complex. Remember in this complex approximately every department is located here and one can imagine how much person can visit each day. Without Sanitary toilets nearly all the visitors who come here for different works practices open urinate resulting pathogens spread readily, causing serious health problems. This is not the situation in this office, it is found in every corner of Kashmir valley as well as Jammu division. Though the Jammu and Kashmir government’s aim is to go open defection free but the track record so far, does make the target seem I Ike a tall order. This sanitation situation in urban areas is not very promising too as many towns do not have much toilet facilities. What is the reason behind this poor performance and why are the government `s efforts to .Improve sanitation by constructing toilets not showing results? Urban development department has to answer. It should be made mandatory that “toilets for all”. In my opinion the government has not been able to make the state open defecation free is that .it has no comprehensive plan to cater the needs of a floating population which is in lakhs in the state. The floating population includes inter-state migrant workers who use fields for defecation. Municipal Corporation has no comprehensive plan that could mature to make the “toilets for all” scheme workable. Municipal Corporations must have a road map to construct community toilets and public toilets at various points especially at government office complex and markets when it comes to sanitation coverage in schools (Govt. and Private), the government have made significant .Improvements. This author appreciates the officers of education department. Rural Development Department should get a lesion from education department. Back to village program has changed the shape of rural people. There are many villages that are open defecation free villages, but what about back to town?
(The author is Incharge District Record Room at DC Office Anantnag and frequently writes for the opinion pages of today’s print edition of “Kashmir Horizon”. The views, opinions, facts, assumptions, presumptions and conclusions expressed in this article are author’s own and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
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