Tamil Nadu - Nagapattinam   

`Ecological sanitation' festival under way

K. Subramanian

To mark construction of 250 ecosan toilets in a village

Nagapattinam: Thousands of residents took part in a weeklong ecological sanitation festival on Friday in tsunami-hit Kameshwaram in Nagapattinam district to mark construction of the 250 `ecosan' toilets in the village.

The festival is being organised by the Society for Community Organisation and Peoples Education (SCOPE), Tiruchi, that took up the task of constructing the ecosan toilets in the tsunami-hit villages.

K. Vijayanthi, Project Officer, Tsunami Relief Works of UNICEF, Chennai, who was the chief guest, said that it was indeed gratifying that thousands of residents of the village participated in mass cleaning, removal of garbage, dissemination of sanitation concepts through dance, drama and skits and drawing of several hundreds of rangolis and kolams in all the streets in the six wards of the village.

She said that the UNICEF had advanced Rs.4,000 for construction of each `ecosan' toilet and pointed out that the residents of tsunami-hit villages were showing great interest in constructing the `ecosan' toilets after coming to know about the benefits.

M. Subburaman, Director of SCOPE outlined how `ecosan' toilet was becoming increasingly popular form of toilet in high water table areas and coastal areas and pointed out that it also helped the farmers to use urine and compost for improving agriculture. He said that 50 `ecosan' toilets were constructed in the last few days at Kameshwaram bringing the total number to 250 in the village.

V. Ganapathy, Liaison Officer of SCOPE and Advisor to Exnora, said that the District Rural Development Agency, Nagapattinam, had advanced Rs.1,200 for each `ecosan' compost toilet. Besides, the FIN-SOS Organization of France gave an assistance of Rs.1.5 lakh for this project.

P. Ramaraj, Panchayat Union Commissioner, Keezhaiyur, who gave away the prizes and opened the new toilets, said that a constant awareness creation of the concept and usage was the reason for the people accepting this new and revolutionary system of toilet.

C.G. Kanagasundaram, president of Kameshwaram Panchayat, said that the village had received the Nirmal Gram Puraskar Award this year from the Centre, thanks to the increased awareness among public of the importance of sanitation after the tsunami. Annabelle, SOS of France, A. Elangovan, Field Publicity Officer, Government of India, Thanjavur, K.Y.Babu, Water and Sanitation Officer, UNICEF, Nagapattinam, and others spoke.

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