KHAMMAM: Kumbham Sailaja hadn’t been coming to school for a while. The 14-year-old girl, studying at a Zilla Parishad High School in Maruthinagar in Aswaraopet manual, Bhadradri Kothagudem district, had her teachers worried.
So, dutifully, her teachers decided to check on Sailaja and visited her house. When they went there, they were shocked - Sialaja didn’t have a toilet at home and wanted her mother Nagamma to get one built, and until this happened, she would not come to school.
The news spread like wildfire in the district. Soon enough, it reached O Deva Raja, Panchayat Extension Officer who rushed to Sailaja’s house. He announced that the toilet would be constructed as part of the Individual Household Latrine Scheme (IHHL) under the Swachh Bharat Mission. Also, it would be free of cost
Sailaja’s father had died of ill-health a few years ago. Sailaja and Nagamma lived by themselves. All through these years, they did not have a toilet at home. Nagamma even applied for a toilet under the Swachh Bharat Scheme and it was sanctioned as well. All she had to do was pay Rs 4,000, while the authorities would shell out Rs 12,000 for the toilet’s construction. However, she didn’t have the money and the plan was abandoned.
“I was ashamed of going out in the open to relieve myself. I was catcalled many times. I decided we needed a toilet,” Shailaja told Express. Panchayat Extension Officer O Deva Raj said, “We did not want to burden Nagamma so we decided to construct the toilet for free.”