Widow who donated her land for toilets made Sulabh's brand ambassador for Bahraich

A poor widow, who donated her land for the construction of eight public toilets in Bahraich district was on Tuesday honoured by Sulabh International, which appointed her as its brand ambassador for the region to propagate the sanitation awareness.

At a function organised in Lucknow, the low cost sanitation NGO founder Bindeshwar Pathak gave Manorani Yadav, who works as a daily wager, Rs 2 lakh cash prize and said she would get Rs 10,000 monthly sum from Sulabh in recognition of her crusade against open air defecation.

Yadav, a mother of six children, had donated her only piece of land for constructing public toilet complex in Bhabhanipur village of Bahraich district in order to ensure proper sanitation facilities for women, Pathak told reporters.

"She has set an example worth emulating," he said. "Yadav donated whatever land she possessed for construction of public toilets after government agencies failed to give land to the district administration," he added.

Yadav first mobilised all the women in her village to construct toilets and then led them to meet the District Magistrate Kinjal Singh and requested for construction of a public toilet complex in her village.

"The DM took the issue seriously and arranged funds to construct eight toilets in the village, but nobody came forward to give land for the purpose. Even some government agencies including forest department did not show much enthusiasm," Pathak said.

Seeing no help coming, Manorani offered her land to construct toilets for the villagers, he said. The Bahraich DM too was honoured on the occasion.Pathak appreciated her recent initiative to support the lady to solve open defecation problem.

Two brides, who revolted against their respective in-laws over lack of toilets in Gorakhpur region were also honoured on the occasion. On the eve of World Disabled Day Sulabh introduced a specially-designed Sulabh toilet for handicapped persons in the Barabanki district's Allagani village. The idea behind this kind of toilet came from an Austria-based young IT professional who hails from this village.