Dear All,

I visited Wardha last week and met Dr. Vibha Gupta of Magan Sangrahalay Samiti. Magan Sangrahalay is the place from where Mahatma Gandhi used to work when he was in Wardha.

Among many other activities, Magan Sangrahalay Samiti is involved in rural sanitation program. Under this program, the villagers get a good toilet for Rs. 15,000. All the money for the toilet is paid by the villagers (Rs. 1000 as down payment, and Rs. 14,000 as soft loan through SBI). The program helps the villages in the following ways:

• Maintains cleanliness in the village (especially during the rainy season)
• Reduces the incidence of various diseases
• Provides comfort to women in the villages

Through the program 100 households of the village Bhawanpur in Wardha district built toilets and bathrooms for themselves. For the first time, without any financial help from the Govt. or any other agency, rural people built neat and hygienic toilets with their own resources. Bhawanpur is no more the same. In fact, it is a model village which has proved that ‘when there is a will, there is a way’.

The volunteers of Magan Sangrahalay Samiti motivate the villagers, make a case for their loan application (this involves collecting and verifying 12 types of documents), and facilitate the toilet construction work with the mason, etc.

Though the cost of the toilet is paid by the villagers, the source of salary and traveling expenses of the two volunteers (Rs. 15,000 per month) is yet to be secured. It would be great if people would come ahead and committ to this expense.

Please feel free to contact Dr. Vibha Gupta for your support. Her email id is vibha@womentech.org .

Regards,

Kiran

www.grameenbharat.in