Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation
India is one of the fastest-growing economies, yet it faces several public health-related challenges. Lack of toilet facilities leads to poor hygiene, especially among girls. Inadequate sanitation is a major cause of disease and improving sanitation is known to have a significant beneficial impact on the health of households and communities.
We have been working to provide toilets and sanitation infrastructure in many villages, primarily in Maharashtra. In addition to this, clean drinking water sources like RO filters are provided at schools and villages. We are grateful to Finolex Industries for supporting this mission under their CSR vertical.
Supported ITI Ratnagiri with the Water Pipeline network scheme
(Backed by Finolex Industries)
An appeal was received from the Industrial Training Institute, Ratnagiri to donate plumbing material for a water pipeline network for the boys’ hostel, along with a tree plantation project within the ITI Ratnagiri campus.
MMF responded to the appeal and the project was inaugurated on 1st of January 2022, at the hands of District Vocational Education and Training Officer (DVEO), Mr. Kotawadekar, and the ITI principal, Mr. Shetye.
The installation of this pipeline will not only ensure continuous water supply to the boys’ hostel, which accommodates 100 students, but it will also take care of the watering needs of around 150 mango saplings within the garden on campus.
The project also involved shramdaan (self-work) by the students of the ITI Ratnagiri, under the able guidance of their teachers. ITI Ratnagiri expressed their gratitude towards this support.
Supplied plumbing material provided by Finolex Industries for a Drinking water scheme in Ratnagiri
(Backed by Finolex Industries)
An appeal was received from the Kharvai Samaj Parivartan Manch and the Purnagad Panchayat of Purnagad village in Ratnagiri for supporting a drinking water scheme which stands to benefit around 1500 people from the fishing community.
The people of the village contributed towards this project by arranging for the required land, borewell, electricity and labour charges. So, on 5th March, 2022, we provided plumbing material to them, which enabled them to fetch water from the tanks that are situated in the hilly regions of the coastal area, into their community.
The Karvai Samaj Parivartan Manch Purngad and the members of Purnagad Gram Panchayat expressed their gratitude towards this support.
Construction of sanitation blocks at the Ratneshwar Library in Dhamanse, Ratnagiri
(Backed by Finolex Industries)
MMF constructed 6 toilet blocks at the Ratneshwar Library on the 31st of August 2021.
Earlier, patrons of the library would spend less time here because of the lack of amenities.The building of this toilet block will benefit more than 150 students and 200 villagers, and we believe it will cultivate the spirit of reading among future generations too.
Donated an RO system to the Kanzat Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Gujarat
(Backed by Finolex Industries)
On 25th October 2021, Mukul Madhav Foundation donated an RO system to the Kanzat Primary Health Centre in Gujarat.
The health centre serves a population of more than 30,000 inhabitants across 20 villages, providing them with basic health treatments, COVID treatment and COVID vaccines. Every day, more than 200 patients come to the centre for vaccination and other treatments.
Yet, pure drinking water was not available at the centre. Hence, they appealed to MMF to provide an RO system. MMF took note and quickly extended support by installing the system for the convenience of patients, their relatives, and the health care professionals working there.
Donated an RO filter at the Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls’ School in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan
(Backed by Finolex Industries)
Mukul Madhav Foundation responded to an appeal made by “CITTA” India Foundation and arranged for an RO filter to be installed at the Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls School at Kanoi, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan on 22nd November 2021. The RO water filter proved to be of great help to the school, as it is located in the rural interiors of the Thar desert in Jaisalmer, and experiences extreme weather conditions every summer.
Construction of Toilets in Palghar District
Located 115 km away from Mumbai, the Palghar district has a sizeable tribal population with some villages in the district still being underdeveloped without access to basic amenities. MMF has decided to bridge the gap with welfare initiatives related to sanitation and water. We have been working closely in Palghar since June 2017 to create toilets for these tribal villages in collaboration with Kherwadi Social Welfare Association’s (KSWA) Yuva Parivartan.
A need assessment was carried out with the villages before providing them with the toilets, teaching them the ill effects of open defecation and health hazards. The key objective of this project is:
- To make this area open defecation free by constructing toilets for each household.
- To educate the households about good personal and community health and hygiene practices, including keeping their surroundings clean
- To promote the benefits of privacy and safety, especially among young girls and women
Project Phases
The project was carried out phase-wise.
- The first phase of construction began in November 2017 in collaboration with Finolex Industries. They funded 50 toilets in Sonale, a tribal village in Palghar District, Maharashtra. These were inaugurated on 8th January 2018.
- In the second phase, Mukul Madhav Foundation appealed to corporates, ZF Steering Gear, Pune, supported another additional 30 toilets at Vadavali village, Taluka Wada, which was inaugurated on 12th June 2018.
- In the third phase, MMF continued collaborating with Finolex Industries to construct and inaugurate another 50 toilets on 21st December 2018 in Taluka Wada in the villages of Vadavali, Vihre, Keiv Hamrapur and Bavaghar.
- The fourth phase of construction was at Keltan, Sapne and Karalgaon with 77 toilets funded by Finolex Industries in January 2020.
- The fifth phase of construction was at Nane Sange with 125 toilets and in Gorhe with 127 funded by Finolex Industries, completed in January 2020.
- The sixth phase of construction was in Kev and Hamrapur, funded by Finolex Industries culminating in a total of 127 toilets completed in April 2020.
- The seventh phase of construction was in Jawahar block with the support of Hinduja Foundation with a total of 100 toilets completed in May 2020.
- The eighth phase of construction was in Wada Baveghar with the support of Finolex Industries with 79 toilets completed in December 2020.
- The ninth phase of construction was in Jawahar in collaboration with Shapoorji Pallonji Pvt Ltd with 15 toilets completed in May 2021.
- The tenth phase of construction was in Khidsa in collaboration with Finolex Industries with 27 toilets completed in November 2021.
Additionally, a solar pump (with battery backup) has been provided to Vadavali village, with a population of 1,400 people, which now prevents villagers from walking long distances to fetch water from the river.
The outcome of the project
- 21 open defecation free villages
- Women have a greater sense of security
- A healthier environment for the villagers
- Better control of various diseases
- With the inclusion of soak pits to convert refuse into manure, and solar panels, this mission contributes significantly to our sustainability goals
- Water conservation projects along with another corporate, namely Ashok Leyland, were carried out in 2018-19, supporting approximately 400 villagers.
- At Kev, we rejuvenated a well
- At Hamrapur, we constructed a Cement Nala Bund (CNB)
- At Bavegad, we helped de-silt and clean an existing reservoir
Construction of toilets in Gadchiroli in collaboration with Finolex Industries
Since June 2017, MMF and Finolex Industries had been working closely with Kherwadi Social Welfare Association’s (KSWA) Yuva Parivartan NGO in Palghar to build individual toilets in tribal villages. Continuing this collaborative effort in 2019, we started working in Gadchiroli to create Period Positive Holiday Homes to support tribal women in these rural areas, followed by implementing a plan of constructing 260 individual toilets in 9 villages.
On 27th January 2022, 114 individual toilets were inaugurated in Gadchiroli village.
The second phase of finishing 146 toilets will be completed by April 2022.
Provided Sanitation Facilities to Army Hospitals in Pune
We provided 12 portable toilets to the following army hospitals in Pune as they were lacking in sanitation facilities for patients and relatives:
- CTC Wanowrie: 4 units
- Military Hospital Khadki: 4 units
- Command Hospital: 4 Units
Support with Toilet Facilities and RO filters in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Orissa
- Toilet facilities were constructed in schools in Ratnagiri, Satara, ZP School in Umbraj, and Khandala in Maharashtra as well as in Padra block, Gujarat. This project was initiated in a total of 18 schools, benefiting 7,846 students.
- A toilet block was constructed at Rajkiya Uchh Madhyamik Vidyalaya, a school for boys and girls at the Kela Ka Bass village near Jaipur, Rajasthan, benefiting 300 girls and 200 boys. This village is unique as most of its residents are plumbers by profession.
- Approximately 90 Reverse Osmosis (RO) units have been provided to various government institutions, hospitals and schools in Maharashtra and Gujarat since 2013.
- We provided support to the Shri Ramkrishna Ashram School, Orissa, with the construction of a toilet and bathroom block in 2019. This benefitted 330 girls.