WASH Institute, HCL Foundation and Madurai City Corporation had joined hands in a Public Private Partnership mode to make Madurai City, Tamil Nadu, India. The primary objective of the project is to create 'Clean and Open Defecation free Madurai City, by providing access to sanitation to left out households in the corporation.
The Madurai City Corporation contributed Rs8000/household, the subsidy component under Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) and the beneficiary contributed Rs5000/toilet. The HCL Foundation supported for both the hard ware and software activities for successful implementation of the project.
Under Phase I of the project, WASH Institute constructed 50 Individual house hold toilets, the super structure of which is prefabricated using Ferro-cement technology, which is cost effective and also durable.
The handing over of toilets to the community was done on 6th Jan, 2017 during a grand function, under the presence of Madurai City Corporation Commissioner Mr.SandheepNathuri, IAS. The Commisioner said that the corporation is very keen to make the city an Open defecation free city and moving in right direction, with more than 4000 toilets being constructed in the past year. Dr.Parthiban, Assistant City Health Officer spoke about the importance of toilet usage and the various sanitation linked health hazards which can be prevented by avoiding defecating in open and also by practising proper hygiene behaviour.
Mr. Subburaman, Director, HCL-TSS, Madurai, Ms. Simi Suri, AGM, HCL Foundation, Mr. Marshal Kumar, HCL Foundation, Mr.Velusami, Principal Program Coordinator, WASH Institute and Mr. S.Ramesh, Project Officer, WASH Institute were the other dignitaries present during the event.
Apart from dedicating the toilet to the community, a clean-up drive ' Maasilla Madurai' was also launched during the event, by which HCL TSS volunteers throughout the year on weekends to make Madurai clean and green city.