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Indian NGO to assist Kabul municipality

By Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

KABUL NOV. 22 . The Kabul Municipality and an Indian non-government organisation, Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, have joined hands for constructing 10 community toilets with biogas plants for water heating and lighting, besides around 1,000 `Sulabh-technique' toilets in residential premises and a middle school for the underprivileged children in the war-ravaged city.

Lauding India's role in the reconstruction and rehabilitation work in Afghanistan following the installation of the Hamid Karzai Government, the Mayor of Kabul, Mohammad Anwar Jekdalek, speaking on the sidelines of the "International Seminar on Environmental Sanitation, Health, Hygiene and Water'' organised by his office and Sulabh on November 18, said these endeavours would further strengthen the historic ties between the two countries.

Commending India's role for reviving air and land transport links in Afghanistan, Mr. Jekdalek hoped that the Sulabh's sanitation project would help Kabul meet the critical need for hygiene and public health.

The founder of Sulabh, Bindeshwar Pathak, said besides undertaking the sanitation programme, the organisation would focus on vocational education for children to make them independent and create more employment opportunities for them. Efforts would be made to educate as many persons as possible in English to facilitate them to take to the various informal trades with ease. He hoped Sulabh would be able to create a model colony in Kabul, which would have no sanitation or water problems in the near future. The Afghan Deputy Minister of Urban Development, Nasir Saberi, said Kabul's population had increased from about one million to 3.5 millions in the last two years and Sulabh's initiative provided hope as it sought to address the sanitation problem through cost-effective and less water consuming toilets.

The Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan, Vivek Katju, said 35 Afghan drivers were in India to take delivery of 35 trucks and dumpers for the Kabul Municipality.

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