This 18-year-old Gurugram student built two community toilets in a village

• According to a report on “Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Conditions in India” by the Centre’s National Statistical Office, over one-fourth of the rural households do not have toilets

• Only half of the rural population in Uttar Pradesh and Odisha had access to toilets as of 2018

The findings came to light more than a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared rural India open defecation-free (ODF) during an event in Gujarat to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in 2019 and after over five ye­ars he launched the Swachha Bharat Mission, primarily aiming at making India ODF by 2019.

At the Gujarat event, the PM had said over 110 million toilets were built during 2014-2019. But Bagthala, a small village in Haryana is not lucky enough. Most rural households here do not have access to toilets.

When 18-year-old Sanskriti Kohli, who lives in Gurugram, visited the village — home to her maternal grandparents — she was shocked to see women getting up early, braving chill and long stretches to attend to nature’s call, that too in the open.

“I saw women from the local community walking miles, braving cold in winter, only to defecate in the open. Apart from being an un­hygienic practice, it became a safety concern; even an incident of rape of one such vulnerable women was reported,” Kohli told Business Standard.

To figure a way out, she discussed the situation with her family members and teachers at school. “My teachers and family were really supportive. I began researching about setting up an eco-friendly and cost-effective community toilet. Community toilets would be the beginning of a healthier lifestyle, and thus began Project Aarambh,” Kohli said.

Initial hiccups

“Getting people on board with the idea of setting up a community toilet was one of the biggest challenges, I faced during execution of the project,” Kohli said.

She began by speaking with the women “who shared disturbing experiences from molestation to even abduction they faced due to the lack of toilets in individual homes”. 

Kohli added: “They, however, expressed an apprehension that having a toilet and kitchen within the same premises may not be a healthy idea. Breaking such misconceptions took days of convincing.”

The execution

She then approached the village sarpanch to gather the needed momentum for her idea to materialise.

She collaborated with a Delhi-based design firm, Caya, to come up with models for the toilets. “The toilets needed to be eco-friendly and easy-to-use. I wanted a design which, would require less water,” Kohli said.

For Aarambh, she raised funds through donations. She sensitised her family, friends, teachers and students from her school about the cause and her mode of intervention. Soon Rs 1.2 lakh was raised for Aarambh.

The start

Finally, two community toilets were installed in Bagthala. They are eco-friendly and fitted with an equipment to turn waste into compost, which can be used as manure for fa­rming. “I figured only installing two toilets won’t do the needful. They (villagers) had to be sensitised about the best practices in sanitation and hygiene,” Kohli said.

She started by conducting three workshops on using the toilets, besides spreading awareness about the best hygiene practices, especially among women. She added, “Now, wo­men in Bagthala are happy. They use the toilets and keep them clean on a regular basis. They have even kept them under lock and key to prevent petty thieves from stealing the parts away.”

New heights

After completion of school, Kohli aims to scale up Aarambh. “I want to create positive wide-scale intervention within this space. Thus it is important for me to gather knowledge about public policies around sanitation, hygiene and housing conditions,” she said.

She hopes Aarambh will pave the way to begin a cleaner and hygienic lifestyle in other villages soon.