Matter of concern

A toilet story

With Goa missing ODF deadline twice, it is a worrying situation that a lauded policy like the Swacch Bharat Mission almost never come to fruition on the ground, even in a village like Cola, specifically “adopted” by a parliamentarian. 

Ghanne is a ward of the Cola village, in down south Quepem Taluka. The popular Adinath temple is located in this ward. Some 300 people live here. Saraswati Velip, 80 something is the face of the story of this ward. With not a single household toilet, the entire village defecates in the open. In the evening of her life, Saraswati's only wish is to see a toilet in her house. "Iam tired of walking long distance to relieve myself. In my young days, things were better and we never felt bad about defecating in the open. There was lot os vegetation and the population was less. Now things have changed. With education and awareness, there is lot of discomfort doing the routine. The younger women and girls are worst hit by the lack of this facility," laments the septuagenarian.

The next ward that faces a similar crises is Matvem. Resident Pranita Velip, a class 12 student says, "The most affected due to lack of toilets are the women, girls and children living here. There is a lot of talk about provision of free toilets through the Swacch Bharat Mission (SBM). But we continue to remain devoid of this basic requirement." She adds that the young girls not only experience discomfort while being forced to defecate in the open, but feel insecure too.

"Besides, our sanitation needs are different. This situation poses a challenge to managing menstrual hygiene. There is stress, embarrassment, physical discomfort and fear of gender-based violence," says Pranita who aspires to become a teacher. For generations, most of the 400 odd families in this ward have lived without toilets or sanitation facility. The most affected population with regards to lack of sanitation facilities are women and children and their trauma is magnified a hundred times in these wards where every woman, girl or child is forced to defecate in the open.  Here, women here have grown used to holding their bladders and bowels for almost 13 hours in a day. There are more wards in this calm yet picturesque village of Cola of the Quepem constituency, predominantly inhabited by the Velips, listed in the Schedule Tribe category, that lack this basic facility.

Sulaksha, Chandravati and Sita Vaiz are all residents of Cabo-de-Rama. In what can be termed as a sorry embodiment of the Swachch Bharat Mission, senior citizen and a leader of Maheswari Mahila Mandal, Sita informs that the panchayat has started issuing forms for constructing household toilets, but residents are apprehensive and not ready to fill forms. "We are asked to pay a sum of Rs.2500. Not just this, we are also required to dig the pit," she says. "This entire strech is rocky. The labourer charges anything between Rs. 1400 to Rs 1,600 per hour. Digging into the rock to make a pit may take several days. It is better to defecate in the open as we cannot afford this cost," Sita tells GT.

Sarpanch Purna Nayak clarified. "Those coming under general category are charged Rs 10,000, those in OBC category charged Rs. 5000 while those in the ST categogy have to pay Rs. 2500," Nayak told GT. She further clarified that villagers are not required to dig the pit. "There is some misinformation. Work is carried out under the project and villagers are not required to carry out work. They are however asked to assist and cooperate with the workers so that the work is facilitated," she said, however expressing concern of maintaining the facility. "Provision for funds to maintain the facility is vital. Toilet alloted to villagers under the sulabh souchalaya project are  no longer in use, either because the pits are full or the structure has crumbled." She further admitted that over 600 households do not have toliet facility in the village, supporting the claim of villagers that women face sanitation challenges and humiliation on a daily basis on account of this.

South Goa MP Adv. Narendra Sawaikar, has adopted the village under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. He pays monthly visit to the village and is aware of the woes. He says he has put in a lot of efforts to bring about a change. "Despite my efforts and bestintention, the problem prevails -- basically due to the issue of land disputes. And this problem affects provision of toilets in most villages in Goa. The only solution is to amend the existing laws to tackle the problems related to obtaining NOC from the landowner. The people are also aware of this fact," he told GT assuring that he is working with the state government to make the whole of Goa open defecation free (ODF).

With Goa missing ODF deadline twice, it is a worrying situation that a lauded policy like the Swatch Bharat Mission almost never come to fruition on the ground, even in a village like Cola, specifically “adopted” by a parliamentarian.

Courtesy: EVESCAPE Women's Features, Goa

The article was published in Weekender, Goa on March 17, 2019