'Swachhta warrior' of C'garh to now work for voter awareness

A 25-year-old Chhattisgarh woman, who played a key role in making 82 village panchayats open defecation-free, will now educate people of Raigarh district on importance of voting and enrolment of eligible electors.

Monika Ijardar has been named Raigarh district's icon for the Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme for the upcoming assembly polls in the state, a senior official has said.

Ijardar was among the 10 people honoured by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in East Champaran, Bihar, in April for their significant contribution in Swachh Bharat Mission, a key initiative of the BJP-led government at the Centre.

She had played a key role in making 82 village panchayats in Raigarh district open defecation-free.

"The district is proud to have swachhta champion like Ijardar, who gave her 100 per cent in bringing behavioural change in people about sanitation," Raigarh Collector Shammi Abidi told PTI.

She has emerged as one of the most ardent supporters of the Community Approaches to Sanitation (CAS) programme and recognisedas a 'swachhta warrior', he said.

"She will be the district icon for the SVEEP programme for the upcoming elections. Earlier, she made people aware about hygiene and now she will explain them the importance of voting," Abidi added.

SVEEP is a programme of the Election Commission that seeks to ensure that all eligible electors are enrolled and facilitates inclusive and qualitative electoral participation.

According to Ijardar, she attended a training session on cleanliness in 2014 in the district which made her aware about how lack of sanitation contributes to crime against women and also death of children.

Ijardar said she came to know that rape and some other crimes against women usually took place when they go out in the open to attend natures call.

Also, around 3.12 lakh children between the age group of 0-5 year die every year due to diarrhoea (one of the causes for its outbreak is open defecation), she said.

Ijardar, who had been already working to increase literacy rate in the area, launched a campaign to encourage villagers to build toilets in their homes.

"Till four years ago, villagers in the area were not concerned about hygiene or diseases that could afflict them due to relieving themselves in the open. Parents were exposing their children to grave health dangers," Ijardar said.

Ijardar, a post-graduate in sociology, succeeded in her mission despite facing financial problem, reluctance on part of people to change their behaviour and opposition from orthodox elements who created disorder at public meets held villagers on the issue of sanitation.

She had kicked off her campaign from Tipakhol village, having 75 households, under Khairpura panchayat and managed to persuade people to quit open defecation. She went on to cover as many as 82 panchayats under her campaign.

"It was easy to build toilets but quite difficult to persuade people to use it. Ratri chaupal (night meeting with villagers), swachhta rallies, street plays, morning follow up programmes were among the tasks that helped to achieve the target," she asserted.

In some villages, community toilets are being built for people who come from other places for functions like marriage and funeral, Ijardar added.