Shahjahanpur: Celebrating the birthday of a loved one? Do it by donating a toilet to someone who cannot afford to build one, suggested Shahjahanpur district magistrate (DM) Amrit Tripathi. Tripathi has taken up the initiative of asking people to help build a toilet in the district to mark a birthday, in order to make sure anyone can play a role in making the Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan a success. He has urged local residents of Shahjahanpur to try and donate a toilet on the birthday of a kin to a person from a rural area. Tripathi believes this could be an ideal gift to give away on birthday.Anyone interested can register through the link shahjahanpur.nic.in and pick the household where they want to build the toilet. They will then have to buy material for building the toilet and oversee its construction. The process is expected to cost approximately Rs 12,000.Tripathi said, “We will provide all technical support, including an engineer who can plan the layout of the structure, for the toilet. The person who volunteers to build a toilet has to do the funding and supervise the process. Many children fall ill and die at a very young age due to unsanitary conditions. I believe that we should take an initiative to help the government in doing away with open defecation completely and ensure a healthy life for someone who needs it.”Thousands of people in the district are waiting for funds from the government to build toilets and are forced to defecate in the open. With limited funds, the government is yet to build toilets for them.The DM has also instructed administrative officials to visit private schools during morning assemblies and ask students to request their parents to gift a toilet to a poor person on their birthdays. Businessmen and industrialists will also be encouraged to gift a toilet on the birthdays of their parents, children or other family members.“By gifting a toilet on birthdays, donors can earn the blessing of a lifetime from those who live in adverse conditions,” said Tripathi, while speaking to TOI.

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