Residents stage novel protest seeking sanitation facilities
The residents of Thattanchavady resorted to a novel way of protesting to seek better and improved sanitation facilities!
Thattanchavady is one of the thickly populated areas in Puducherry. This Wednesday, they observed World Sanitation Day in a completely new way. The residents along with the CPI protested in a new way by performing the last rites of the sanitary complex as it lacked even basic sanitation facilities. A wreath was laid in front of the complex symbolizing and declaring it as dysfunctional and dead. The needs of almost a hundred families residing in the Mahatma Nagar in Thattanchavady are being catered by the complex with six units, three men and three women. This area falls in Thattanchavady constituency where Ashok Anand was elected to the assembly AINRC.
The municipality of Oulgaret was not able to maintain complex as it should and the doors, taps and sanitary ware got damaged with time. According to K Sedhuselvam, the state council member of CPI, the municipal authorities are being urged time and again for the renovation of the complex for past 5 months but to no avail. The officials replied that there were no adequate funds with the civic body for renovation of the complex. The protest was carried out under K Sedhuselvam. R Karunanidhi, the Junior Engineer of Oulgaret municipality said that the civic body will be renovating all public toilets as per the Government orders. In Thattanchavady area alone, there are fourteen public toilets. All are functional, leaving just one or two. It is practically difficult to carry out minor repairs like repairing broken tap or broken door in a complex. The tenders for the same will be floated soon and the contractors will be selected for the renovation of toilet complexes in the area. In the Union Territory of Puducherry, almost 1/3 rd of the households lacks basic facilities like latrines. In rural pockets, the situation is much worse as almost 61 percent households lack latrines as compared with 18 percent urban households. In the entire Puducherry Union Territory, there are approximately 3 lakh households and according to the 2011 census, 31.6 percent lack latrines.
In order to bring about improvement in the sanitary conditions of the area, a unique way of protest was adopted by the citizens of Thattanchavady area.
Source: Times of India
AINRC, CPI protested, K Sedhuselvam, Puducherry, R Karunanidhi, residents of Thattanchavady, urban households
