Bhubaneswar: Toilets have always been a hard-to-discuss topic even as a huge population in the world still does not have access to a decent hygienic place to defecate.
According to the sanitation fact sheet of World Health Organisation (WHO) published on its website in February 2018, 2.3 billion people globally still do not have basic sanitation facilities such as toilets.
Practical Action has launched a project called Swachh Samudai to raise awareness about the importance of using toilets at Choudwar Municipality with the support of Ruchika Social Service Organisation. In this connection, UK-based award-winning photographer Tom Oldham had clicked images that tell the stories of different communities of Choudwar benefiting from the project.
Tom Oldham’s had visited Choudwar and interacted with a number of people benefiting from the Swachh Samudai project, which works to enable slum communities in Choudwar town to improve their health through better access to safe drinking water and sanitation services.
The change could be seen at a photo exhibition titled “Building Healthy Communities, a snapshot from Swachh Samudai Project” organised by Practical Action at Soochana Bhawan Tuesday.
The five-day exhibition, open to the public till March 16, gives an insight into Practical Action’s work, technology and practices in converging sanitation, hygiene, access to clean water and health issues, in order to achieve a strong and positive impact on health and livelihoods of communities.
The Swachh Samudai ‘Healthy Communities’ project supports the Odisha State municipal authorities to deliver their policy of providing safe clean drinking water as well as safe treatment and disposal of liquid waste in Choudwar Municipality.
Speaking on the occasion, Padmashri Bhabani Charan Pattnaik said, “Cleanliness has been a concept dear to Indians since the time of Mahatma Gandhi. Any work contributing towards making our cities clean and communities healthy must be encouraged. The stories of beneficiaries in the photos show that Project Swachh Samudai has made great strides in taking care of the wellbeing of communities in Choudwar.”
Jagadananda of CYSD, said, “There has been extensive work done in Choudwar under this project. This model can also replicate in other municipalities.”
Mahesh Prasad Mishra, Municipality Engineer, Choudwar, who was a part of the project, said, “This project has contributed greatly towards making Choudwar open defecation free. We hope to accomplish much more under this project.”
