Create awareness on toilets: Hema Malini urges young girls

Noted actress and BJP Lok Sabha member Hema Malini on Thursday urged young girls to encourage their elders to use toilets to sanitation problems across the country.

Stressing the importance of toilets in every house, Hema Malini -- the Lok Sabha member from Mathura -- said the target of 10 crore toilets in India by 2019 can be fulfilled only if people in rural areas understand the importance of toilets.

"India continues to face problems of toilets because there is no awareness. Until students and women motivate to create awareness for toilets in rural areas, the problem won't see an end," Hema Malini said at the opening ceremony of a two-day conference organised by Sulabh International to mark World Toilet Day.

On the occasion, Sulabh founder Bindeshwar Pathak said a lot has been achieved the the past one year, but the "problems will see an end only if private and the public sector together work towards the construction of toilets across the country".

The conference aims to provide a platform for stakeholders working towards sanitation issues, on how a synergy between corporates and NGOs can provide toilets to millions in villages across India.