The 28th of July, we did the 2nd Self Assessment at Paschimdhuli and also relooked at the Action Plan. Whilst in the practice of immunisation and ante- and post-natal consultation, there has been improvement with negligible drop outs, but a new issue of sanitation emerged. The encouraging fact that emerged though is that the community is aware and united in their stand that they will not accept toilets that have not maintained the standard norms. They have decided to submit a written complaint at block level specifying all the details/discrepancies in construction for corrective action.

Sangita Talukdar from Paschimdhuli village in Kamrup, when appreciated for the fact that she has been able to identify correctly all the lacunae in the construction of sanitary latrines in her village says: “Baideo, we never realised that our observations and our views will be taken seriously, and so we prefer to keep silent, but the SALT team has made us understand that our views can be correct and important. We have realised that we too have strengths.”

Ruchira Neog