By Aprajita Mishra & Tara Rana | Project Coordinator & Communications Officer
As reflected in the feasibility study undertaken for Project Adhikar, 35.6% of Rickshaw Pullers (RPs) out of 1000 selected for the study live in the garages and other places that substantially lack basic amenities like inadequate access to safe water, inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure, poor structural quality of shelter, etc. These factors invariably take a toll on RPs health, affecting their productivity largely, thus, marring their livelihood.
Construction of Bio-Toilets and ensuring their proper usage will go a long way in improving their living and health conditions. Amit, owner of the Amit garage, where a large number of Rickshaw Pullers live, is a good example of how having access to sanitation facility has a very positive impact on the well being of the RPs. This twenty years old garage is the source of livelihood to roughly 200 RPs and home to around 70 RPs. As such, the responsibility as well as the liability of the RPs inevitably lies with Amit, who is equally keen to work towards their betterment.
Amit garage is one of the garages where bio toilets have been built in the first phase of the intervention. Amit said that earlier the RPs had no choice but to go out in the open to attend nature’s call but since the garage is set in an urban locale, the RPs faced space constraints, public glare and embarrassment. He even told that though he has proper water facility in his garage (supply and well), it never really struck him to build a toilet for the RPs until Maitri approached with the concept.
Amit said Maitri’s association with the garage and its constant efforts through various interventions over the years has positively affected the lives of the so many RPs. This is visibly evident in their day to day life as they are adopting good habits and hygiene practices with proper understanding of the same, thus, working towards improving, not only their lives, but that of their families and eventually their community.
Until now, under the project, 14 bio toilets have been constructed and are duly used in the first phase of the intervention in the five garages. The RPs are happy with the result of the intervention and are glad that the bio toilets are really as effective as they were told. They are using the toilets without any reluctance anymore and are eventually getting used to the habit to the extent that they are keen to get bio toilet constructed in their home for the usage of their families.
After successful implementation of the first phase of construction of bio toilets, there is an air excitement and a general acceptance amongst the RPs of garages where toilets are to be constructed in the second phase. This is the result of promotion of the intervention through word of mouth and experience sharing by the RPs amongst their peers.
In the second phase we are preparing to construction bio-toilets in the following garages.
Approximately 700 RPs are going to benefit from the intervention. All the 6 garages have proper water availability (either well or supply water). The construction is in the full swing at the moment. Moving forward, Maitri intends to construct bio-toilets in the four urban slum communities in and around Ranchi city.
Thank you for supporting the project and enabling us to improve the living conditions of the RPs in Ranchi. We hope to work in more garages and cater to many more RPs in Ranchi.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
