Janakpurdham, June 23: Irrespective of the passage of eight years since the declaration of open defecation free (ODF) country, the open defecation is still rife in Dhanusha district, especially in Musahar Dalit settlement.
It indicates the investment in hygiene and sanitation campaigns went in vain.
Most of the households from Musahar settlement of Pachaharwa in Shahidnagar Munincipality-5 have no toilet, thereby defecating in open spaces.
It has been customary for Urmila Sada to go to nearby open spaces for nature’s call, as she has no sanitation facility at her home. “It is shameful to squat on fields in the early morning and evening. Even the owners of fields shout at us. It has been tremendous difficulty for women folks,” she shared the plight.
Only three out of over 100 houses have toilets. Most of the people therefore are bound to escape public sight, visiting bamboo thickets, bushes and agricultural fields.
It is sheer contradiction that the ward was declared open defecation free (ODF) eight years back. But the toilet facility is scare here, causing utmost challenges to sanitation.
There are some 370 people in the settlement, according to a local Shovendra Sada. Everyone- senior, women and children- is compelled to respond to bowel’s movement, reaching the fields.
Another local Param Devi Sada said some families even do not have land to construct toilets owing to financial constraints, while some families were still expecting government assistance to build toilets.
Those hardest hit by the lack of toilet are women because they are for forced to flee to the fields after the men folks are asleep in the night or early morning. “In addition to the shame if they were getting sighted by anyone, fear of snakes and poisonous insects equally grips women when they are to move away to fields for release,” she shared, adding that rainy season causes utter inconvenience with inundation everywhere.
Most of the people in this settlement are landless one- neither land nor space for toilet. It has left people in gross shame. It has posed question to their dignity and safety too, according to local Ram Dayal Sada.
Central secretary of Harwacharwa (Bonded Labour) Rights Forum, Ram Dayal, informed that open defecation has caused health problems like diarrhea, cholera, typhoid. “Mostly affected by lack of sanitation are children and senior citizens,” he added.
What is worth remembering is that Nepal was declared the first ODF country in south Asia in 2075BS. But the scarcity of toilet, an essential health and sanitation facility, especially in the settlements of poor, Dalit and landless people, has questioned both the investments made so far in this sector and government policies, another local Kamalesh Yadav from Shahidnagar argued. #nepal #rss
