Eunuchs in Madhya Pradesh have been put on special duty to impart lessons on cleanliness to the people and help the civic body in making the city open-defecation free (ODF).
The Betul civic body has initiated this campaign to improve its Swachha Bharat ranking.
Under the campaign, eunuchs have started visiting different localities and explaining the residents about cleanliness habits through singing and clapping.
They ask people for ‘nek’ (money) every day if the residents continue defecating in the open.
An eunuch, Shobha, said, “This is a very good campaign. We are very happy that we contributing in the social services. Earlier, people expected us only during auspicious occasions to give us ‘nek’. But now we are visiting the localities to teach a lesson. This is a respectful task for us.”
Shobha said they were also trying to make the people feel ashamed for open defecation by offering garlands to those who have not constructed toilets in their houses.
Chief municipal officer Pawan Kumar Ray said, “In MP, there is a competition between 34 cities for the cleanliness tag. We have just two and a half months to make the city clean under all the parameters so we are coming up with all possible ideas. The survey for the ranking will be done in January, 2017.”
{{/usCountry}}Chief municipal officer Pawan Kumar Ray said, “In MP, there is a competition between 34 cities for the cleanliness tag. We have just two and a half months to make the city clean under all the parameters so we are coming up with all possible ideas. The survey for the ranking will be done in January, 2017.”
{{/usCountry}}“Betul is a tribal district. Here, people are afraid of eunuchs as well as give importance to them. So we requested them to help in the social services,” Ray added.
The eunuchs have agreed to help the municipality without any charge. “People have started responding to them positively,” the official said.