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To improve sanitation and hygiene in rural India, the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan is creating awareness on the importance of accessibility of toilets for all. Promita Sengupta, a former banker, has come up with an innovative “quickly deployable, cost-effective, complete toilet solution,” to boost the efforts towards zero open defecation. These toilets are a tent like structure made of tarpaulin sheets, with a detachable sloping roof, windows, holes for ventilation, Velcro latches and hooks for hanging clothes. It takes less than 5 minutes to dismantle or deploy the unit, which is erected over a pit and used as a toilet or as a bathroom. It can be very useful in disaster hit regions where lack of proper facilities lead to open defecation and diseases.
In last three years about 2000 such toilets have been installed at villages in Bihar, Assam and West Bengal. It is easily transportable and weighs around 16 kg with its iron pegs. The structure occupies an area of 4’× 3’ feet and measures 6.3’ tall when erected. It also helps in increasing the rural literacy rate. The attendance of girls in a rural school in Bihar went up significantly after these toilets were installed.
