HASSAN: Only four houses had toilets in Tandya, a small hamlet with forty houses in Harnahalli hobli of Arsikere taluk, but now every house has a toilet thanks to Total Sanitation Campaign envisaged by the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR).

The story is similar in Bettadakopplu village in Shravanabelagola hobli of Channarayapatna taluk. The village with a population of 200 had two toilets, but with the implementation of the programme all 40 houses have toilets.

Hassan district is making great strides in the drive for total sanitation. According to Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Panchayat F.R. Jamaadar, of the 259 gram panchayats in the district, most villages in 67 gram panchayats had toilets. With the department sanctioning Rs. 12.37 crore to take up the sanitation campaign in the district last year, the District Water and Sanitation Committee, headed by Mr. Jamaadar, had taken the task of constructing toilets in every part of the district. According to Mr. Jamaadar, of the Rs. 12.37 crore, the share of Union Government was Rs. 7.95 crore and the State Government Rs. 2.85 crore. The beneficiaries were expected to bear Rs. 1.56 crore. Though the Hassan Zilla Panchayat submitted a proposal for Rs. 16.56 crore for the campaign, the department had sanctioned Rs. 12.37 crore, he added. A 13-member committee was formed to oversee the campaign and a survey was conducted from October to January 2004 with the help of block-level officers, gram panchayat secretaries, and departmental employees.

The survey indicated that 2,76,622 households in the district did not have proper toilet facilities and of the 3,272 rural schools, 1,738 schools did not have bathrooms and 822 schools did not have proper water supply.

Of the 1,596 anganawadis in the district 1,126 did not have proper bathrooms.

The success rate of the programme, according to Mr. Jamaadar, is 90 per cent in Shravanabelagola, Harnahalli, Honnallikavalu, Sathyamangala and Jajoor gram panchayats.

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