New Delhi (Sputnik): On World Toilet Day, India's top bureaucrats set an example by soiling their hands in toilet pits.
On Monday, people in Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad district gathered in large numbers near a toilet pit to witness what they called "a miracle." Many villagers from Wajidpur village even placed friendly bets on whether two of India's top bureaucrats would actually clean a toilet, according to the local media.
On #WorldToiletDay emptied the twin pit toilet,participated in Toilet Panchayat & gave toilet kits & #SwachhBharat blazers to field workers in Wajidpur village,Ferozabad district of UP. Extremely satisfying experience to see the commitment of people particularly ladies &children pic.twitter.com/THi5kNyhe5
— Amitabh Kant (@amitabhk87) November 19, 2018
Param Iyer, secretary of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, and Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, picked up shovels and started to dig out the human waste-turned-compost from a local twin pit toilet. Within the next few minutes, the entire toilet pit was emptied, and the compost was handed over to the villagers.
With CEO NITI @amitabhk87 at the Toilet Sabha in Wajidpur village, Ferozabad district this morning on the occasion of World Toilet Day. This was the @swachhbharat jan andolan in action! Village passed 6 resolutions including sustaining ODF status and becoming plastic free. pic.twitter.com/eZHuuYH4mL
— Param Iyer (@paramiyer_) November 19, 2018
"The objective behind the entire exercise was simple — to tell people that cleaning toilets are completely healthy and safe. Since the act of emptying a pit latrine is considered to be socially degrading, people do not construct toilets at home and prefer to defecate in the open. To eliminate the shame and stigma associated with the usage of toilets and help people embrace the toilet culture," one of the organizers of the event told the media.
