Maklang (Manipur), December 06 2008: MAIBAM DAMU, a resident of Kachikhul village, 15 km west of state capital Imphal in Manipur's Imphal west district has changed his lifestyle after he had had a new toilet built in a corner of his small plot.

"Echa-ebungo (my son), earlier, it was hard to believe what others suggested�due to our ignorance," Damu, 68 year-old economically backward cultivator, said.

The villagers used to avoid approach road bordering Damu's plot during the wet and winter season in view of unpleasant smell coming out of his backyard.

Besides causing health hazard in the village, frequent cases of diarrhoea were also reported from his family members including three sons, three daughters, three daughters-in-law and four grand children, due to lack of sanitation in their family.

"We used to spend approximately Rs 2000 to Rs 3000 as extra expenditure in buying medicines every season", he informed.

Now things have changed after he became a beneficiary of Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) last year.

Tongbram Deben, another villager who has a sizeable family in the village also echoed a similar sentiment while Thangjam Achouba who regularly buys insecticides to kill house-fly in the past said, "now it's hard to find a fly in my courtyard".

Now almost all the 122 households including those who get subsidy under Below Poverty Line (BPL) in Kachikhul having a population of 750 now owns a toilet with a proper 'squatting platform' by spending Rs 300 to Rs 1500 .

However it was a challenging task for local Pradhan H Subashchadra to convince these villagers in taking up TSC successfully in his eight villagesKarong, Kiyam, Kachikhul, Haorang Sabal, Leitong, Luker, Maklang and Sangaithel which have a total of population of 4,580 under 937 households of Maklang Gram Panchayat in Imphal west district.

"It took me nearly 3 years to convince our villagers" Subhaschandra who initiated the campaign since 2003 said.

Though he failed that time,his tireless effort forced him to become the first and only Nirmal Gram Puruskar (NGP) award winner of the state this year.

The President of India Pratibha Patil handed over the award to the promising Pradhan during a function in Guwahati in October last.

NGP is a national award instituted to honour, facilitate and encourage those village bodies or Panchayati Raj institutions which have attained total sanitation in their respective areas in the country.

It includes cash prizes too.

Besides Pradhan, Anganwadi workers and school teachers of Kachikhul village also actively involved in making their village free from open-defecation in the recent time.

Forty five year old Anganwadi worker Maibam Chaosana and Kachikhul Government Junior High School head master in charge S Pradipkumar said the basic teaching methods on hand wash and cleanliness helps a lot in keeping the children clean in school and home as well.

A medical technician turned 'local physician' Angomjambam moc-ha,who runs a pharmacy Loyalam Medical Store at his Leitong village under Maklang Gram Panchayat sharing a similar sentiment with cultivator Damu's remark on least expenditure on medicine in the wake of sanitation activities,said,"I think this is not wrong,the rate of purchasing diarrhea and pile medicines in particular has been decreased by 30 percent since last year".

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