‘Leopard Scare Got Us Toilets’
Jagdish, a carpenter at village Tavalik in Uttarakhand, has never heard of Swachh Bharat not the grant for toilets at home. Jagdish says the kuccha toilets in his household became a necessity after leopards were spotted near the village.
Our village is about three-hour drive from Nainital. But even after a long winding drive, one has to walk quite a bit to reach here. Villages nestled in the Himalayas may look picturesque, but they come with their own set of challenges. A few years ago, we made our village free from open defecation. But it wasn’t because of a cleanliness drive. It was the fear of leopards and other wild animals that drove us to take the decision.
Our village is in the middle of a forest reserve. Encountering wild animals, such as leopards, barasinghas (swamp deer) and wild boars while relieving ourselves in the open, had become very common.
I have five kids and all of them used to go to the forest to answer the call of nature. One day they came across three leopard cubs. This meant that their mother was probably around. My children knew how to handle the situation. They just ran for their lives. From that day onwards, I vowed to build a toilet at home.
The toilet in the house was built entirely by me. The construction is not that great, and it is not uncommon to encounter a scorpion or two perched upon the toilets, but it serves the purpose.
The same holds true all the other toilets in the village. The construction is kuccha and has been built using outdated technology. Last year, during last rains, the roof of one toilets collapsed, fortunately no one got hurt.
Residents of my village have no idea about the government’s support for construction of toilets. This is probably because our village is hardly accessible via motorable roads. The only motorable road that is connected to my village on the farther side of the mountain, which is not linked to any city or village. To get to work every day, I have to trek uphill for an hour to reach Hartola, the nearest village, relatively bigger than ours. Villagers often use horses to carry their goods.
Our village lies in neglect. No government official has ever bothered to come here and tell us how we can benefit from their schemes. We are pretty much on our own. We have achieved the unthinkable, without any government support.
