ALAPPUZHA: IN a step towards a cleaner panchayat, Muhamma in the district has literally followed the call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to construct toilets to end open defecation. The special committee of the panchayat, held on Tuesday, declared Muhamma as an ‘open defecation-free’ panchayat. Modi had introduced the campaign ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ to create awareness about the need for toilets in all the households in the country.
The panchayat authorities have constructed 281 toilets so far this year and declared the panchayat as the first ‘open defecation -free’ panchayat in the state. According to panchayat president J Jayalal, Muhamma is one of the backward panchayats in the district and is geographically prone to the spread of epidemics.
“In 2007, the panchayat had attained the ‘Nirmal Gram Puraskar’ of the Central Government. At that time, around 50 per cent of households had toilets. A survey conduct by the Clean Kerala Mission last year found that around 281 households did not have toilets. The panchayat administration then decided to allot funds to all households for constructing toilets,” Jayalal said. The president said that the fund allotted by the Clean Kerala Mission and the panchayat was used for constructing the toilets.