Technology is the only way forward to promote sanitation
SULABH International is working in the field of sanitation since 1970. Bindeshwar Pathak, the founder of the Sulabh International was the one who first realized that to end the scavenging there is a need of a technology. With the help of technology there’s no need to do the scavenging again. So, for this he innovated a two pit toilet technology. As we most of us are aware, it took 5000 years to create two-pit toilet technology to get discovered. What this technology does is that, all the human waste is transformed into compost, which contains, potassium, sodium, and phosphorus, which is very helpful for farming. Therefore, the problem of the disposal of the human waste has been converted into a resource in the form of compost, with the help of this technology.
The next thing which Sulabh international has invented is the public toilet system, pay and use model. First public toilet on the pay and use model has been made in Patna in 1974. At that point of time Patna Municipal Corporation asked the corporation that they can provide the land and money for building toilet but they clearly told us that they would not be able to provide us the money for its daily maintenance and operation, as they had no budget for that. It was then Mr. Pathak decided to initiate this system on the pay and use basis.
The move was without criticism at that point of time. People made fun of this initiative by saying that, people don’t give the train fares and bus fares who is going to pay for the toilet. But, when it was opened on the first day, 500 people used it and 10 paise per head was the rate, so Rs.50 was collected. Since that day, we never looked back. At present 9,000 sulabh’s public toilets are running across the country. About 15,00,000 twin-pit toilets, which are household toilets, are running successfully. Even our Prime Minister appreciated this twin pit toilet and recently when he had come to Varanasi, he himself laid the foundation. This is a matter for pride for us.
Apart from that Sulabh also found out the method for converting bio-waste into the bio-fuel. We converted the excreta from public toilets into methane, and we use that methane for cooking, generating heat and electricity. Around 290 toilets have been made and set up in various states. Till date, the biggest one is in Shirdi, Nasik, which is a public toilet, where three bio fuel converters have been set. Around 50,000 people use it daily, and there are around 1000 toilet seats, which is a big number. A bigger toilet is about to be set in Pandharpur, where around 3 – 4 lakhs people can use it. So, this is another innovation of Sulabh which is in progress. Sulabh International is ready for the smart toilets as well, and we have made the first model, which is been approved by the Urban Development Ministry Of India. We are going to make this smart toilet in Kurukshetra. As an organisation, we are always ready to make smart toilets as the Government and municipality wants. We will continue looking for better technology. We are also making use of waster water. We have an ATM water also, by which we filter the waste water and sell it in Delhi at the rate of Re. 1 per litre.
