Community Participation - An Initiative For Development Clean Village Devtoly

        

Village Devtoly, Block Bageshwar, district Bageshwar is situated 38 Km away from the district headquarter. This Gram Panchayat has total 49 households, out of these 08 households are Below Poverty Line (BPL). In this area there are total three education centers, which include – Inter College, Primary school/ Anganwadi and Sanskrit Maha Vidayalaya.

In December 2003 the implementation of Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) was started in the Gram Panchayat by organizing a conference chaired by the Gram Pardhan, Shri Puran Chandra Pathak.   There were only 45% households covered by sanitation in the Gram Panchayat before Total Sanitation Campaign was begun. Out of these households, some had made temporary latrines, but due to their old habit, family members including, old men, children and women still used to defecate in open. Animal dung and other solid/liquid waste was dumped openly thus creating unsanitary environment in the dweling premises, roads and pathways. The toilet existing in the primary school was also damaged and useless.

After collecting the details about Total Sanitation Program from the District Project Management Unit (DPMU), the Gram Pradhan called a general meeting of the panchayat. In this meeting the villagers were made aware of the long term benefits from Total Sanitation Campaign. The villagers gave their consent and pledged to abide by the principles of Total Sanitation Campaign thereby making their Gram Panchayat “Nirmal” In this meeting it was decided that no one in the village would defecate in open and would not pollute water sources. Along with this they also decided to keep environment clean and safe. For this purpose, Ward Members and Women were accorded responsibilities. The responsibility of keeping their wards clean was distributed among all Ward Members by the Gram Pradhan.

Cleanliness Campaigns were conducted by the women groups of the village from time to time. Toilet pans and pipes were made available to some BPL/APL beneficiaries by the Support Organisation “Paryavaran  Vikas Samiti”. Technical knowledge about low cost toilet construction was provided to the community by the project portfolio managers.  Sanitation Campaign had great effect on those households who were totally unaware about hygiene practices like safe disposal of garbage waste water etc. School rallies were organized and efforts were made to discourage use of polythene bags, create awareness about environmental sanitation and to use sanitary latrines.

The Gram Pardhan himself took initiative and motivated the community about personal hygiene. Along with this he also involved women, children and youngsters to be a part of the sanitation campaign. The funds received for development works were utilized properly and the damaged drainage system in the village was repaired. Self Help Groups were also formed with the help of active participation by the retired Army personnel.

By their own efforts community proved that “Where there is a will, there is a way”. Under Total Sanitation Campaign individual household latrines were constructed by all BPL and APL households in the village. In primary school two toilets were constructed for girls and boys separately and proper arrangements for water availability were ensured. Presently all the households in the village have their own toilet facilities and they are also regularly using them. The efforts made by Shri Puran Chandra Pathak, Gram Pradhan, Ward Members, Women groups, Children Groups and the Support Organization to achieve environmental cleanliness in the Gram Panchayat are highly appreciable. The Gram Panchayat Devtoly, Block Bageshwar, District Bageshwar has been awarded Nirmal Gram Puraskar by His Excellency President of India on 23^rd March 2006. The Gram Pradhan Sri Puran Chandra Pathak received a cheque of Rs. 2 lakh and a certificate of excellence for their efforts in the village.