J&K's Anantnag among India's best in construction school toilets

Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district bagged the Prime Minister's award for large-scale construction of school toilets under the Swachh Vidyalaya Campaign. The district turned out to be the best among the North East and hill states in the construction of separate toilets for boys and girls in over 1,500 schools. District administration had relied mainly on community mobilization and had even conducted a social audit to ensure that quality is not compromised at any point during the entire exercise. Apart from Anantnag, Andhra Pradesh's Ananthapuramu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli administration were also awarded for their efforts in large scale toilet construction.

 

Compared to state-run firms, private companies contribute less than 1% of all school toilets constructed under the Swachh Vidyalaya Campaign. Along with a few industry lobbies, just around 10 private firms have helped construct 3,466 school toilets over the past 20 months. In contrast, around 1.42 lakh school toilets have been constructed by state run firms. Tata Consultancy Services led the private sector race by constructing 1,509 toilets, followed by Mahindra Group who constructed 1,171 school toilets.  

 

While North Delhi’s Bhalswa landfill has been spewing out mini-fires in the recent weeks and with East Delhi’s Ghazipur landfill reaching saturation way back in 2002, the national capital’s landfill dilemmas only seem to be growing. While rules state that landfills should not go beyond 20-25 metres in height, the Ghazipur landfill has garbage tightly packed 40 metres high. With one of the waste-to-energy plants still in trial mode and no alternate arrangements in place, the government’s plans to reclaim Bhalswa and Ghazipur landfills seem rather hollow.

 

Mumbai has turned out to be India’s largest producer of e-waste, accounting for almost 1, 20,000 metric tonnes (MT) of electronic junk produced in the country annually. Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad are among the top cities churning out e-waste in India. A study conducted by Assocham and Frost & Sullivan has revealed that India’s total e-waste output is expected to touch 30 lakh MT a year by 2018 from the 18.5 lakh MT it currently produces. While the government along with public and private industries contributes nearly 70% of all waste that is produced, household e-waste adds up to just 15%. 

 

Ever since the Kozhikode Corporation undertook repair works and revamped e-toilets installed across the city in February 2016, more people seem to be using them compared to before. The toilets were re-opened with the help of Eram Scientific Solutions early this year after they were shut down in 2013. The most common anxieties which kept people from using these toilets were the lack of water and the fear of getting locked in the cubicles. Steps were taken to address these issues and instill confidence among users in the city.