Achampatti village gets 140 green toilets with solar lighting

MADURAI: Achampatti village, 12 km away from Madurai city, was declared open defecation-free a few months ago. 'Green Toilets' (toilets with solar lighting) have been provided in 140 households, most of them poor. A function was held in the village on Thursday to mark the completion of 140 toilets.
E Kala, 37, one of the beneficiaries said the green toilet has brought sanitation home.Open defecation was common in the village and she suffered chikungunya due to the unhygienic conditions.
Thirumalai, 65, a conservancy worker of Achampatti village, said there was increased awareness among the villagers on sanitation now. "It has become easy to clean the streets and it is a positive change in the past 7 years I have been working as a conservancy worker in the village," he said.
Panchayat president S Murugan said there were 720 women in 380 families in the village. Open defecation had been a serious problem in the village and they wanted to eradicate it. The government subsidy of Rs 12,000 was not enough to construct a 5X4 feet toilet. Devaki Hospitals in Madurai came forward to help and they also provided solar lights in the toilets, Murugan said.
Collector L Subramanian and project director of the District Rural Development Agency Rohini Ramdas presided over the function arranged at Achampatti village on Thursday. Executive director of Devaki Hospitals P S Nagendran was present.