The decision was taken unanimously by the village council in order to declare the VDC an open defecation free zone. “We decided to spend all of the government aid to declare the area open defecation free zone at the earliest,” said VDC Secretary Lilanath Regmi, adding that of the total allocated budget of Rs 1.48 million, they had decided to spend Rs 1.3 million for the purpose. Even the local

political parties have expressed solidarity with the cause stating that the move will help keep corruption at bay and improve sanitation in the village.

The VDC had been allocating its budget on the construction of roads, in which corruption was rampant, in previous years. All nine wards of the VDC had already started initial work and readied construction materials like sand and gravel, said Surendra Bahadur Karki of Dalgaun-3. “There are 578 households in the VDC and each of them is constructing a toilet,” Karki said.

Meanwhile, Regmi said that upon dividing the amount, Rs 1.3 million, each household will receive around Rs 2,250 for the construction of toilets as opposed to the government policy of giving only Rs 1,200 to each household for the purpose. The VDC will also provide one toilet pan, 25 kilogram of cement and two corrugated metal sheets.

The VDC has also decided to spend the remaining amount, along with Rs 216,000 saved from last year’s budget, in preparing village and child profile. Similarly, Rs 400,000 received for the operation of the VDC will be spent on salary and bonus of civil servants and office stationery. The VDC has already signed a contract with Santosh suppliers via the tender process to bring in essential supplies. However, local Shankar Subedi complained that they were yet to receive the materials and that the delay could hamper the campaign.

Meanwhile, objecting to the VDC’s decision to provide the amount to each household regardless of whether it already had a toilet or not, Local Development Officer Prem Prasad Ghimire said civil servants getting their salaries and allowances from the state should construct toilets on their own. Astounded by the VDCs decision, Ghimire said a maximum of Rs 700,000 had been allocated for the purpose in other VDCs. “However, as the VDC is an independent body, we cannot comment on its decisions,” he said.

Although the government has aimed at making the country open defecation free by 2017, the Bhojpur District Development Committee aims to achieve it by 2015. Of the total 63 VDCs, 14 have already been declared open defecation free areas. The DDC is aiming to make the remaining VDCs open defecation free areas within this year.

Villagers no longer use toilets

PRATAP BISTA

Many households in Bharta VDC in the district have started using their toilets to store hay, fodder and firewood merely 10 months after the village was declared an open defecation free zone.

The declaration was made after installing toilet pans in each house with pledge from the concerned families that they would carry out the remaining work to give a full shape to their toilets within a month. Despite such promise from the villagers, many families in the VDC did not complete the remaining work on their toilets and those which are ready have remained unused.

“We are habituated to defecating in the open but constructed the toilets under pressure,” said Rupal Chepang of Saiwang, Bharta-1. He had constructed a toilet for his 11-member family nine months ago using materials provided by the VDC but the family use the nearest stream to answer the nature’s call.

Similarly, Pritiram Chepang of Bharta-4, who owns three houses and is also a civil society leader, does not have a toilet. Though he installed a toilet pan earlier, it has already been buried. His 12-member family, too, uses the nearby rivulet to answer the nature’s call.

Though locals can be found defecating in the open near the rivulet, many people living downstream have been using drinking water collected from the same rivulet.

Local people in Bharta-6 said there are only two toilets in the whole ward and these too are reserved for guests. “We just cannot get ourselves to defecate in the toilet,” said local Ram Singh.

Considering the financial constraints of the villagers, the District Development Committee (DDC) and VDC had brought essential construction materials like toilet pans, pipes and cement from Hetauda and distributed them to 708 households in the VDC. However, the campaign has completely failed.

According to Tanka Moktan, a staffer at the VDC, some people have constructed toilets but failed to put it to use while the rest sold the materials they received at cheaper rates to others. Around 70 percent households in the VDC, a majority of whom belong to the Chepang community, do not have toilets.

According to a local schoolteacher, the campaign failed to achieve its goal due to the lack of awareness among local residents and that the move would have been a success had authorities concerned focused on raising awareness about potential health hazards caused by open defecation instead of making the declaration in haste.