TIRUCHY: 71-year-old Marachi Subburaman was all smiles on Monday night when the list of Padma awardees was announced, as his efforts to improve sanitation in rural areas received national recognition. The social worker has been running an NGO called ‘Society for Community Organisation and Peoples Education’ (SCOPE), which has been focusing on sanitation in rural areas since 1986.
But much before SCOPE, when he was fresh into his first job at the Village Reconstruction Organization in 1976, he had his watershed moment. Having to travel to villages to study them before constructing houses, Subburaman was deputed to Madagam village in Pudukkottai.
As he went to relieve himself in the morning, he was shocked to see that one water tank was being used for all purposes. On enquiring, he learnt that even the water he drank the previous night was from the same tank. He immediately dug a pit in the village, bought a toilet pan for `25, and fit it in the pit. He says the toilet is still present in the village.
Subburaman strongly believes “we must change before asking others to change”. Before constructing a new form of toilet in any village, he first tests it. Born in Inungur Pudupatti village in Kulithalai, Subburaman said he saw the struggles of villagers only when he started working. He was the first graduate from his village.
SCOPE was started to help young widows and women in general. The first few years were spent training women in tailoring, mat-weaving and other income-generating activities. He even constructed houses for women with the help of NABARD.
“After two-three years, we conducted a detailed study on how income was being used. We realized a lot was spent on medical treatment due to infections caused by contaminated drinking water and improper sanitation. That’s when we shifted our focus to sanitation and drinking water,” said Subburaman.
In Musiri, the groundwater level is very high, which is why normal toilet pits weren’t working properly. That’s when Subburaman thought of ECOSAN (ecological sanitation) toilets, which are dry toilets with no flush and septic tank. The toilets, built above the ground, have different chambers for urine and faeces. Each outlet connects to different pits at the bottom. This reduces wastage of water too, said Subburaman, adding that the excreta becomes compost, which is good for the soil. The septuagenarian uses a similar toilet at his house.
“We first tried this model in our training centre at Thaneerpandal village in Musiri, and tested it for two years before rolling it out. We built the first ECOSAN community toilet in Musiri in 2005. These are also called urine diversion toilets. We then became the resource centre for ECOSAN in the country,” Subburaman explained.
“You cannot simply build a toilet anywhere. It has to be location-specific. The solution to any problem should not lead to a new problem,” he added. Asserting that his biggest achievement is bringing about changes in sanitation, he said, “Make running water walk.”