What difference does it make, if only a single person takes an initiative? None, actually. For if the person is determined, he or she can change the face of entire district. An IAS officer, A Sri Devesena, is a case in point.
By her efforts, this 2008-batch officer has made the Peddapalli district of Telangana `defecation and open drain’ free. In the process, she has also made the region more green, and thus pleasing to the eyes.
As famous poet Majrooh Sultanpuri once said, “Main Akela hi chalatha Janib-e-Manjil Magar, Log aategaye aur carvan bantagya (I set off alone towards my goal, but people came along and it began to turn into a caravan)”. Currently posted as the Director of School Education, Ms. Devesena is such a person, starting alone in her crusade. When she was posted in Peddapalli, the district was prone to dengue because of the open drainage system. She took an initiative in constructing soak pits for every house, along with community soak pits. Besides, she also focused on increasing the green cover of the district.
Thanks to her efforts, in 2019 Peddapalli was chosen as the `cleanest district’ of India under the Swachh Bharat Mission of Central Government!
Made the district open drainage free
Talking to Indian Masterminds, Ms. Devesena said, “I was the joint collector of Karim Nagar which included Peddapalli as one of the constituency. Then in 2018, when the state was divided into more districts, which now included Peddapalli, I was made its District Collector. Earlier, as a joint collector, I had started many projects under the Swachh Bharat Mission. When I reached Peddapalli, I visited many villages and realised that only constructing the individual toilets could not make a place clean. Much more has to be done.”
District Paddapalli contains over 250 villages.Visint these, Ms. Devesena discovered that an open drains flew in front of most houses, giving rise to the dengue cases, with hundreds of people becoming victims in each village.
“Under the Swachh Bharat Mission,’’ said Ms Devesena, “two types of activities ‘ODF and ODF plus’ needed be practised to achieve cleanliness. The first one deals with the basic cleaning , such as constructing toilet etc. Other one consisted of solid-liquid waste management and menstrual hygiene. We thought of constructing the soak pits and compost pits in every house under the ODF plus activity. This solved the problem of open drainage as well as took care of solid and liquid waste coming out of the house’, she said.
Ms. Devesena initiated the construction of soak pits in every house under the MANREGA scheme, each pit costing Rs. 4000 to 5000. It was constructed in simple manner and only require sand, stones and mesh. The used water would go straight into it, without causing the overflow. As she pointed out, “The money for the labour was covered under the MANREGA but for material part you needed initial investment, which would be refunded later on This was a problem and we had to find a solution. So, I mobilised the self help groups. One woman from each house is part of that group. We insisted that everyone should take the loan from the group and start constructing the soak pits. Thankfully, we got everyone’s support and the project was completed.”
During seven months of the project, one lakh 20,000 soak pits were constructed. Along with this, 5 community soak pits were also built in each village. This helped to solve the open drain problem and the district became one of the first in the country to achieve this target. The success of the project drew quick applause from the state government also. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, while lauding Ms. Devesena’s stellar achievement, advised other collectors to initiate similar measures in their areas. Subsequently, Telangana Government made the construction of soak pits mandatory in all other districts, under its `Palli Pragati Mission’.
Local Politicians were helpful
Ms. Devesena emphasized that, “Most people think bureaucrats and politicians constantly at loggerheads. But I never witnessed such a thing.. In each of my postings, I stressed on creating good relations with the ground level leaders, such as village `sarpanch’. I believe they also need votes of the people so why won’t they support the development projects. I was always successful with this strategy specially in Pedapalli. I noticed that whenever we launched a project, there was a kind of competition between the panchayats and mandals to complete it first. This kind of enthusiasm has only worked in getting good results. It’s the reason why we succeeded in Peddapalli so quickly.”
After being in the district for three of four months, Ms. Devesena figured out that only building toilets in every household was not enough for making it 100% open defecation free. It was also important to build community toilets, and with all the facilities. During her tenure in Pedappalli, 263 community toilets were built.
` Panch Sutralu’ (Five Principles)
Ms. Devesena is a huge supporter of an eco-friendly system. While working in Peddapalli, she took various projects under the `Swachhta Mission’. She also came up with five principles for action. The first requires one every household has a toilet, second a compost pit and third a soak pits. Along with this, she also ensured that she every women used the district approved sanitary napkins named `Sabala’ and plant at least five trees in a house, beside a kitchen garden.
