By Our Correspondent

Surkhet, July 18

Salkot Village Development Committee in western Surkhet has introduced sanitation card system while delivering any service and facility to the locals.

With the enforcement of the system, the villagers had to produce the card including other documents like citizenship certificate while seeking any service from the VDC.

The sanitation card system was introduced in the VDC in mid April when it was declared an open defecation free zone.

The card system was introduced in order to implement the declaration, said the VDC officials.

The VDC informed that the sanitation card contains the description whether the house of the card holder has the toilet and commitment to stop littering in the open.

Secretary of the office Tilak Ram Adhikari said the system was implemented to pressurize the locals to construct toilets in their homes.

He informed that the office decided not to provide facilities and services to those people who don’t have their family toilets.

After the introduction of the system, many households of the area have constructed toilets, Adhikari claimed.

According to him, the locals started building the toilets when a campaign to generate awareness about sanitation was launched in the VDC.

The office has been distributing sanitation card in the recommendation of drinking water and sanitation coordination committee.

According to Adhikari, the office has been issuing red cards for those households which have not concrete toilets and white for those which have concrete toilets.

The VDC office claimed that the out of total 1,553 households of the VDC, 1,117 households have been using toilets.

One local Chandra Bir Bhandari said that the VDC has given more importance to sanitation card than the citizenship certificate while seeking application for any services.

"Unless they construct toilets, the locals (having no toilet) will be denied VDC services," he said.