No toilet in govt offices of Laxmipur-Patari Municipality

Siraha, February 10

Though Laxmipur-Patari Rural Municipality was declared open defecation free zone one-and-a-half months ago, health post and agriculture service centre there have been operating without toilets for its staffers for years in Siraha.

Around 25 to 30 patients visit the health post on a daily basis, but it doesn’t have even a single toilet. “If any staffer or patients need to address the nature’s call, they have no option but to return to their houses,” rued health post chief Bibek Kumar Chaurasiya.

Both the health facility and agriculture service centre have been operating from the same building. “Though the old toilet collapsed years ago, a new one has not been built,” said chief Chaurasiya.

Staffers said they were facing a hard time as they had to deliver their services from the office that had no toilet. The agriculture centre has been operating from a congested room while the health post has been running from a little larger room for both the office and patients’ check-up. “We have partitioned a single room as we lack enough rooms,” said assistant health worker Kamal Batala.

Siraha chapter of Red Cross Society had facilitated declaration of  Ward 3 of the rural municipality an open defecation free zone. “It was said all 625 households in the area had toilets and people used them properly. Hence, the area was declared an open defecation free zone,” said Red Cross Society Siraha Coordinator Ashok Yadav.