Want to contest elections? Have a toilet first at home

SURKHET, Aug 16: Local leaders in Surkhet have agreed to make it mandatory for a candidate contesting the local elections to have a toilet in his/her house. The decision comes in the wake of cholera outbreak in the western region that has claimed as many as 300 lives as of yet. It is also a part of the action plan chalked out by the District Development Committee and water supply and sanitation office to make Surkhet free of open toilets by 2015. [break]



Chiefs and representatives of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Nepali Congress, Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), Madhesi People´s Rights Forum, National People´s Front, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Nepal Workers´ and Peasants´ Party and Rastriya Janashakti Party signed the commitment letter to implement the action plan.



“How can a leader who doesn´t have a toilet at his home ask others to build one?” questioned NC Surkhet President Tapta Bahadur Bista. He explained that the decision was made to improve sanitation standards in the district. UML Surkhet Under Secretary Dhruba Kumar Shahi maintained that the successful implementation of the action plan would rid people of diseases like cholera and diarrhea.



At present, only 33.36 percent of the 60,000 households in Surkhet have toilets. The action plan has similar provisions for government employees and non-government offices. The offices have agreed to issue directives to all their employees to construct toilets by the end of 2066. Likewise, Cooperatives Division Office, Surkhet, has decided to provide loans to its members to construct toilets.



Local Development Officer Yagya Prasad Bhattarai claimed that the campaign would succeed as it had received support from all sectors. “If the campaign becomes successful, Surkhet would become clean, beautiful and prosperous,” Bhattarai said.

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