Many villagers in Lingzhi Gewog under Thimphu Dzongkhag lack proper toilet facilities. Every house there owns a pit toilet which isn’t properly roofed or connected with water and sewers. In such a scenario, sanitation is often compromised whereby people get ill from flu and diarrheal diseases.
Going by the records of the Lingzhi BHU, over 100 people suffer from diarrhoea every year. And this has been attributed to poor toilet sanitation. However, villagers said constructing well-equipped toilet is a mammoth task for they have to endure hardship while procuring construction materials.
“We are advised by the health workers to construct a toilet with better facilities but since we live in remote area, it is extremely difficult to bring in construction materials from town which is far away from here,” said one of the villagers, Jigme Lhendup.
Some others said, locally available raw materials in the community is not durable to be used for construction purposes.
“So, we failed to construct cemented toilets. I would like to seek government’s help in procuring construction materials,” said another resident, Chimi Dorji.
But, the gewog administration is determined to improve toilet facilities and sanitation. It has proposed for budget to build better toilets in the 12th Five-Year-Plan. If the government sanctions the budget, villagers will have to construct toilets by themselves. Until the 12th plan is implemented, the toilet culture in Lingzhi might remain same.
