Health
Mineral Foundation of Goa On A Mission To Construct Toilets For A Clean And Green Goa
9
th, 2016: The first eco-friendly toilet towards a clean and beautiful Goa, constructed by the Mineral Foundation of Goa (MFG) was inaugurated in the true essence of local community participation at the hands of Mrs. Pramila Ghadi & Shri. Rajendra Falkar, Panch Members of V.P. Kudne at Aanganwadi – Digne in Village Panchayat Kudne, Bicholim. Also present on the occasion were Mrs. Vijaya Vernekar, CDPO, Bicholim Taluka
Addressing the gathering on this occasion the Panchayat members said “We are indebted to the Mineral Foundation of Goa for taking up various developmental projects in our Panchayat. This initiative of constructing toilets in Aanganwadis and for local communities will go a long way in eradicating open defecation in our area”
Mr. Kishore Kumar, Chairman, MFG expressed, “The lack of toilets puts the public health and sanitation in the country at risk. Roughly 60 percent of the country’s population still defecate in the open and the consequences on health and hygiene are huge for the society. Most of the households in rural India don’t have access to toilets and this initiative by MFG will enable deserving communities around the mining belt to sanitation and hygiene.”
The Foundation has committed to taking the PM’s agenda of ensuring toilets in the country to eliminate open defecation and cultivate awareness of hygiene amongst children and adults. As a result of which it has initiated a project “Neetal Gaon – Sunder Goa” (Clean Village, Beautiful Goa). The objective is to construct toilets for Anganwadis in rental premises and select individual households which do not have a toilet across the 32 village panchayats.
Toilets for 15 households from each panchayat in the mining belt will be constructed. An elaborate due diligence was done by the Foundation based on various parameters / critical indicators, viz: economic condition of the beneficiary, availability of toilets in the past etc. based on which the beneficiaries have been selected. MFG will construct more than 600 such toilets in the mining belt.
MFG has partnered with the Institute of Indian Interior Designs (IIID), Goa, and Regional Chapter to design the structure of the toilet so that it is aesthetically appealing and gainfully utilizes the space. These toilets are designed with two leach pit design and promote minimal usage of water after its use. They will not have water tap connection as the leach pit are designed to handle minimum water. Each toilet costs over INR 50,000, the funds coming from the MFG kitty. The Mineral Foundation of Goa will not charge the beneficiary any sum. This noble initiative is aimed at stopping open defecation and help keep the village clean, thereby making Goa a beautiful state.