A Unique Swachh Bharat Initiative

Pandarpur,10 july,(Madan Jha/VNI ) A Unique Swachh Bharat Initiative !Maharastra's temple town Pandarpur is all set to have world's biggest toilet facility to cater every day needs of 3 lakh pilgrims who throng the place to seek blessings of the local presiding deities. Giving a boost to the Prime Minister's ambitious "Clean India Campaign", sanitation pioneer Sulabh International has constructed a cluster of eight mega toilet apartments comprising at least 1,417 toilet units in the vicinity of the temple in Pandharpur in Maharastra. The place is famous for the temple of Lord Vitthal and Deity Rukmini. Millions of devotees congregates there on regular intervals throughout the year and offer prayers. With the opening of all eight three-storey mega toilet buildings, over 1.5 lakh persons can use toilets daily. Besides, a provision has been made to facilitate bathing of several hundred persons simultaneously. With an aim to cater to the needs of several millions of devotees at this religious place, India's biggest sanitation NGO 'Sulabh' has constructed all these eight big toilet complexes in the record time of less than three years. This project was financed and supported by the Maharashtra government. The man behind this concept, well known sanitation expert and founder of Sulabh International is Bindeshwar Pathak. Dr. Pathak termed project as a landmark in the world . These mega structures are situated around the vicinity of famous temple town which witnesses massive congregation of lakhs of devotees on every alternate month round the year. Four buildings were operational for the last one year and now four more such structures are going to be operational ahead of the "Yatra" one of the famous religious rituals of Maharashtra. With the completion of all such mega toilet blocks, the ambitious project has attained the status of largest toilet facility of the world. Each of the newly built buildings consists of 282 toilet and bath compartments and provides facility of lockers as well as changing rooms for devotees who congregate daily during special religious occasions. “So far, we have completed first two phases and by the end of next year there will be total 2,858 toilet blocks,” says a satisfied Dr. Pathak. It will further strengthen s ongoing campaign of the Prime Minister, He further added .He believes that to make India open defection-free by 2019, funds are needed and Nearly 12 crore toilets are required to be built by 2019 to realize the dream of Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi. Dr. Pathak said, “This is a big task, but together we can do it and Non Resident Indians can play a pivotal role in this. Apart from construction of toilets, Sulabh is also leading a movement to discourage manual scavenging. Sulabh works across the country to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Swachh Bharat’ mission and other urban development initiatives. Under Corporate Social Responsibility, Sulabh is collaborating with a number of other Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and corporate houses to build public and individual toilets across the country. Sulabh has been a pioneer in providing sanitation solutions to the poor in India.VNI