For the past few weeks, V. Kalyani, a community activist of the village has been paying Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 8,000 for three youth, who were manufacturing rings that are being used in the constriction of toilets. Similar amount is being paid for another three youth at P.T. Venaktapuar. Both these villages were located at Jagadevpur mandal of the district. They are preparing 40 to 50 rings a day and they are being paid Rs. 50 per ring and Rs. 70 per cement plate in addition to supplying required raw material.

At both the place, the youth are family members of Self Help Groups (SGHs) members who were trained to manufacture rings and plates that can be used in the construction of individual sanitary latrines (ISLs).

The district administration has faced a typical problem of rings for the construction of ISLs when it had fixed a target of one lakh in number. There was no availability of rings. Then Collector D. Ronald Rose initiated the idea of training youth from the families of SHGs and it was turned as a grand success. Each ISL needs about eight rings for the construction and it was estimated that the district needs about 8 lakh rings for the construction of one lakh ISLs. As part of that 300 moulds were supplied by the administration for the mandal Samakhyas which are being used to prepare rings. Another 400 are in the making at Kowdipally where they are being designed, manufactured and supplied. The administration has decided to get about 1,000 moulds manufactured and supplied so that the mandal samakhays can meet the demand for ring manufacturing.

“We are supplying moulds for mandal Samakhyas, who in turn preparing rings and supplying to the villages wherever the women groups are active getting the toilets constructed. Similarly, five rural sanitary marts were sanctioned at Kowdipally, Gajwel, Toopran, Sangareddy and Kondapur from where the sanitary material would be supplied to villages,” DRDA Project Director Ch. Satyanarayana Reddy told The Hindu . The effort is to supplement the demand that surged due to sudden interest by rural public to have toilets at their house.

The women groups were able to sell each ring for about Rs. 160 per unit where as the open market rate was between Rs. 200 to Rs. 220.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Telangana / by R. Avadhani / Rayavaram (Medak District) / January 05th, 2016