Page 123 - Swachhata Chronicles – Transformative Tales from India (eBook)

Sahiya is the treasurer. It has equal gender and generating awareness on hygiene and
representation with 6 of the 12 members sanitation.
being women who represent either the GP
During SBM-G Phase-I, she motivated people
or Ward.
to stop open defecation and construct toilets.
One such Jal Sahiya is At her behest, 346 toilets were constructed.
Smt. Menka Das from In addition to creating five groups of Roko
Shreedhar Diara village Toko Dal to prevent open defecation, she
in Sridhar Diyara GP organized several rallies, meetings and
(Udhwa Block) of training programmes. Her efforts led to
Sahibganj District. 100 per cent Individual Household Latrine
Shreedhar Diara is one (IHHL) coverage in her village.
of the main Namami
Menka’s training on SLWM at both District
Gange villages that and State levels facilitated the creation of
faced many challenges pertaining to a women’s group to raise awareness on
sanitation. Menka was selected as a Jal the importance of waste management.
Sahiya on 10 March 2016 and has since As an expert in water quality testing, she
th
then earned the respect of her community has checked many water resources of the
through her devotion and hard work. Keen villages and made people aware of water
to bring positive change to the sanitation quality. This earned her the fond nickname
sector and having taken the sanitation oath, of ‘water doctor’. For her contribution,
the proactive village leader starts her day Menka Das has been awarded at the Block
early, meeting mainly the household women and District levels.

utcome

Under Menka’s leadership, the village has constructed

9 community compost pits, 6 institutional compost

pits, 109 community leach pits, 2 waste management
sheds, 83 soak/leach/magic pits, 214 individual
compost pits, 124 individual leach pits, and 118 NADEP

compost pits.

Swachhata Chronicles: Transformative Tales from India 103