With reference to the analysis of WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) programmes by Kanika Datta in her article, "CSR beyond the sanitary truths" (May 19), toilet-building programmes under the umbrella of corporate social responsibility activities have a few more aspects.
First, companies are simply following in the footsteps of government departments: provide for infrastructure but no funds for maintenance or increasing the usage of assets.
Second, these non-perishable, physical assets are easy to be quantified, budgeted, monitored and audited. Third, these toilets provide photo ops to corporate honchos - pose with the rural folk in ethnic wear and before exotic backgrounds - which make for good display copies in the corridors of power as well as for in-house magazines and video clips as fillers for training programmes. Also, such activities offer the public relations departments of companies some work.
While travelling in rural areas one continues to come across ghost houses -abandoned or never occupied - that are located far away from the main villages. These houses were unimaginatively built under the Indira Awas Yojana for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families, who never shifted there.
In a similar way, the unused toilets could soon become part of "toilet tourism" in villages.
Y P Issa, Karnal
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