After a tweet of 90-year-old couple C. Alagu Ambalam and his wife A. Angammal went viral, Swacch Bharat seems to have gotten a new boost.
For the first time, Achampatti village near Madurai will get toilets thanks to the efforts of this couple. They constructed their toilet by themselves under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme about a week ago.
In an effort to go open-defecation-free by being the first volunteers to take up construction of the toilet, the SBM’s tweeted a picture of them with the caption - “A 90-year-old couple from Achampatti constructed a toilet in their home and inspired the entire village.”
“Initially, nobody wanted to construct a toilet, because they don’t know any better. They have been living like this for years. The couple volunteered to construct the first toilet for which they dug up two pits. His wife assisted and took care of the curing after construction,” said Tamilarasi, a local leader in the village.
Today, 141 of the 145 identified homes have toilets fitted with solar lamps provided by Madurai-based Devaki Hospital.
Members of the four houses, where toilets could not be constructed, use a public toilet, making Achampatti a ‘zero open defecation’ village, say DRDA officials.
The village is the first among eight panchayats in Alanganallur panchayat union to contribute to Swachch Bharat mission by putting an end to open defecation.
Many in the village were inspired by the couple. “The biggest advantage for the couple is that they need not have to walk a distance to the nearest open field. They are old and tired, and wanted to put an end to this for a long time. The wife especially believed it was extremely unsafe for women to go out in the night and ease themselves.”