Urban awareness campaigns on sanitation in Nagpur

In India, rapid urbanisation and increasing population have been reasons for a major strain on the existing infrastructure. It has affected the capability of the government to supply fresh drinking water, and effective sanitation measures. Major concern is that more than 40 per cent rural population does not have proper sanitation facilities in India. Sanitation is the most significant preventive measure to ameliorate the societal and economic wellbeing in India. Contaminated water causes many waterborne infections like diarrhea, and also functions as a carrier for vectors such as mosquitoes spreading epidemics.
Access to secure drinking water and good sanitation are vital for family welfare. It results in control of enteric diseases, and boosts child health. A healthy child has better learning and retaining ability. Girls avoid going to school where there are no proper sanitation standards. Proper sanitation (sewage and garbage disposal as well as hand washing and personal hygiene) is the easiest and most efficient means to prevent outbreaks of disease. Inadequate sanitation has dire effects on public health, children’s education and growth, women’s safety and the fight against poverty. Many diseases like stunted growth of children, infant deaths, and diarrhea are preventable if we provide good sanitation. Sanitation can improve the existing status of Indian citizen and it will improve economic wellbeing and longevity.

Sanitation campaign
July 4, 2019
The Equi-City team conducted a sanitation campaign on July 4, 2019. The objective of the campaign was to promote sanitation among people and to generate awareness about Swachh Survekshan 2019 in the city, mainly targeting the labourers, shopkeepers and slum dwellers by distributing pamphlets and discussing it with groups of people. The campaign took place at various locations in Nehru Nagar Zone and Hanuman Nagar Zone. The locations were chosen mainly on the basis of the crowd present on road and surrounding areas.
The campaign started early in the morning on Gyaneshvari Nagar Chowk where Shekhar Giradkar of the Equi-City team led the campaign and started interacting with people to enlighten them about the benefits of having good sanitation at home and outside the home. Most of the public participation at the location was from labourers waiting for work in the morning. Labourers and shopkeepers participated actively and took part in the discussions.
After the Gyaneshvari Nagar Chowk the team travelled to the next position which was Sakkaardara Chowk. The team witnessed active participation here too. At Sakkaardara Chowk labourers discussed about the problems they are facing in their surroundings. A large number of people were critical about the solid waste management of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and demanded garbage buckets from NMC.
The Equi-City team also visited Sakkaardara slums and talked to people and it was observed that people were much concerned about sanitation and participated actively with the team in the campaign. Masses at this location discussed the sanitation problems with the Equi-City team members. Residents of Sakkaardara slums and nearby shopkeepers gave valuable comments regarding the situation of garbage segregation and aggregation. Most people in the slums were interested in following segregated waste collection, but did not have separate bins for them. Many of them complained about the garbage collection, as the garbage was not collected regularly hence people were forced to throw garbage on the road. This was a major problem in the area. The open dumping in the Sakkaardara slums was not only inducing disease, but also blocking the drains which resulted in water logging during rains.
The drive was a huge success with proactive participation of people in big numbers. The thoughts and valuable comments shared by the locals were sufficient to understand the situation. This movement gave an insight to the Equi-City team about the challenges people are confronting. The campaign was much appreciated by the people and the idea of it encouraged them to keep their surroundings clean.

Sanitation campaign
July 12, 2019
The team conducted another sanitation campaign on July 12, 2019. The objective of the campaign was to promote the sanitation among people and to generate awareness about Swachh Survekshan 2019 in the Nagpur city, mainly targeting the sanitation workers in Zone 9, Ashinagar by distributing pamphlets and discussing it with groups of people. The campaign took place at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital & Research Centre.
The campaign started in the morning at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital & Research Centre where Shekhar Giradkar of Equi-City team led the campaign along with Anusuya Kale, Sharad Palliwal, Dr Sumita Mukheraji and Gauri Pandit from Swacch Association. Jamulkar, Sanitary Inspector and Dhanraj Rangari, Zone Officer also joined the campaign. They started interacting with people to enlighten them about the benefits of having good sanitation at home and outside home.
As sanitation workers they are very valuable to society as they do all waste collection door to door. All the sanitation workers were being asked for the type of garbage collection they were doing and it was noticed that almost everyone knew about the segregation of the waste and the way to do it. They were informed about the garbage they can collect separately and sell later for some extra cash. Most of them were well aware about the proper segregation of the waste and were even putting waste to use as fertilizer and doing cultivation at their houses. It was an enlightening session at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital & Research Centre as they were introduced to a new way to dispose e-waste too to earn more.
The campaign was a huge success considering the participation level of sanitation workers. The opinions and valuable comments were helpful to understand their perspective. The campaign provided the team an experience of issues which are being faced by the sanitation workers. This campaign gave an insight to the Equi-City team about the issues and challenges people are facing. The campaign was much appreciated by the people and encouraged them to keep their surroundings clean.