The Salem Corporation is going all out to popularise the scheme for
construction of individual toilets with government subsidy in all
households in the city under the Clean India Mission with the objective
of doing away with open defecation.

The corporation has launched a
mobile campaign vehicle with a replica of individual toilet for
creating awareness among the city residents on this programme. R.
Sadheesh, Corporation Commissioner, flagged off the vehicle on
Wednesday.

Mr. Sadheesh said that people can construct individual
toilets at an outlay of Rs. 12,000, for which government extended a
subsidy of Rs. 8,000. The main objective of the corporation is to
do-away with the open-defecation in the city limits with the active
cooperation of the public.

Besides the replica of the individual
toilet, flex boards explaining the salient features of the Clean India
Mission programme, the importance and advantages of individual toilets
and the harmful effects of open defecation have been displayed
prominently on the campaign vehicle. The vehicle will cover different
parts of the city from dawn-to-dusk.

Mr. Sadheesh said that the
corporation has already pressed into service more than 30 field staff to
create awareness about the project. Field workers led by a coordinator
and four supervisors will be visiting different wards daily and convince
and motivate the people to construct individual toilets with subsidy.
The corporation has also taken special steps for the distribution of
applications to the people for the construction of individual toilets.
People can collect the applications from the main office and from the
zonal offices, and also from the field staff under the Clean India
Mission. The filled-up applications could be handed over to the field
staff themselves.

The Commissioner also called upon the people who
had already constructed toilets to construct septic tank for flushing
out the waste water and human excreta.

A. Ashok and G. Kamaraj, corporation executive engineers, and V. Prabhakaran, City Health Officer, were present on the occasion.