the Sancoale panchayat has decided to leave no stone unturned to make the village free of open defecation by March 2017, said Sancoale Sarpanch Ramakant Borkar.
He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a foundation stone laying ceremony for a community toilet for the people of Zorint-Zuarinagar, which is part of a one-year programme to make Sancoale a model village in Goa.
“Sancoale village has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons, but more importantly because of open defecation by people, especially women, who still sit on the roadsides. Thus, we have pledged to stop open defecation in Sancoale and to make our village 100 percent free of open defecation by March 2017,” said Borkar.
He added, “While moving forward to achieve our goal, we should also understand why open defecation takes place. The prime reason is non-availability of toilets, and thus, we have identified areas where community toilets are required, and in a phased manner, we will construct the same with the help of the government.”
