Retired Army havildar's efforts help Rajasthan village bag ODF

A non-descript village off National Highway 125 connecting Jodhpur with Pokhran, 'Mandla Kallan', boasts of being open defecation free, thanks to the efforts of a retired Army havildar-turned sarpanch.

Om Singh, who was elected sarpanch of 'Mandla Kallan' panchayat after retiring in 2013, says it is the discipline and strict cleanliness practices in the Army that got in him the urge to ensure that every household in his village would have a toilet of its own.

"Even during operations and field duties while serving in the Army, we practised scientific ways of defecation and I sought to bring the same to my village," Singh, who was in the Rajput regiment since joining the Armed Forces in 1997, said.

The retired Army man was critically injured in an ambush in December, 2004, by guerrillas of the outlawed United National Liberation Front (UNLF) in Churachandpur district of Manipur, in which four of his compatriots were killed.

"I was brought to the Command Hospital in Kolkata and recovered following treatment there," he said.

According to officials, 'Mandla Kallan' is one of the 33 panchayats in Dechu block of Jodhpur district in Rajasthan, where toilets have been built in 376 households with government funding.

They said that all the villages in Dechu panchayat samiti have been declared open defecation free (ODF) and Rs 10.2 crore have been spent for the purpose with a total of over 8,500 households having been extended financial support in the block for building toilets.

Every household that fulfils the prescribed criteria gets Rs 12,800 as assistance with funding from the Centre and the state government in a 60:40 ratio, the officials said.

Singh, who became the sarpanch of 'Mandla Kallan' village in 2015, said he has a toilet in his house since 2010.

"We have got the villagers themselves to encourage those who did not have toilets in their houses to get these facilities built by pointing out that it is a matter of shame if members of the family have to go out in the open for answering nature's call, apart from issues of sanitation," the sarpanch said.