Apart, from the cleanliness, the rural people feel, that having toilets in their compound is not advisable, for reasons of health and maintenance too.
First, they should change their culture of using closed toilets, and then only the investments on these things will be useful, otherwise like many things will fall flat.
Policies must be framed for rural Indians to improve the level of sanitation. If they can afford toilets but do not want one in their houses, they should be penalized or else they will refuse to maintain clean environments. Anti-social elements abound in India regarding these important matters.
They are poor but don’t want to admit it before Surveyor as they don’t want to look like a beggar, don’t use Public toilets because either they are too far or are dirty without maintenance.
Government might give one time subsidized loan to build toilets, but then facility takes private space, has constant maintenance costs and might not be practical without a private water tap, which add another cost.
May be people struggling with headache of earning daily bread, don’t want to take extra headache of dumping it out in a way, which add cost.
So before going on campaign to encourage people to use sanitation facilities, Government should primarily focus on building network of public toilets and public drinking water taps around villages and Cities.
It can cover sanitation needs of large population at lesser cost, and will be easier and more practical to manage, as responsibility of construction, maintenance and sustainability can be delegated to local Municipality or village Panchayat.
Also some return on investment can be generated from Public toilets by economically collecting gas or fertilizer.
If there are plenty of Public toilets and clean drinking water taps available for use at reasonable and safe distance and in good condition, then getting service at home becomes a luxury and Government would be justified in making people completely pay for it from their own pocket, which is a Win-Win situation for all stake holders.
Re: May be people shy away from having private Toilets..
by Varadarajan Ravindran on Jun 12, 2014 07:50 AM
Indians are misers who do not want to spend money on sanitation and public health issues. The Indian mind-set must be changed by the Narendra Modi government.
Re: Re: May be people shy away from having private Toilets..
by Kanu Singh on Jun 12, 2014 06:21 PM
One off subsidized loans for building private toilets should only be given in thinly populated areas, where houses are far apart from each other and building, maintaining Public toilets is not economical or practical.
Any area with certain minimum population density should be served with Public toilets and clean drinking water taps, with no financial help from Government for building private toilets or getting private water connection.
City municipalities or village panchayats can be invited to send their preliminary proposals with information like number of Public toilets and water taps required and their possible locations.
Afterwards Government surveyors can go on the Ground for assessment before finalising the proposals.
After projects area finalised, any household which fall outside the range of Public toilet and water tap service can be certified by local authorities to be eligible for a subsidized on off loan, for building private toilet or get water connection from Main line nearby.
