Setting an example, a village in Odisha's Koraput district has become free of open defecation with each of its 45 families having constructed toilets in their houses.

For the past two years, around 220 tribal villagers of Bondaguda under Similiguda block in the district have been using toilets after the village committee banned open defecation.

"Bondaguda is the first village of the district which has been declared 'open defecation free'. It has set an example for others to follow. Now we aim to make the entire Similiguda block open defecation free," Koraput collector Sachin Jadhav said.

The village, about 45 km from here, has shown a marked decrease in incidence of diseases since open defecation stopped, according to the villagers.

"All the 45 Kandh families now have their own toilets. There is strict ban on open defecation in the village," said Narang Pujari, president of Bondaguda Mahila Mandal.

"Since we started using toilets not a single case of diarrhoea or malaria has been reported at our village," said Juruko Pujari, a village women.

It took a series of awareness camps organised by the district administration to make the villagers conscious about the ill-effects of defecating in the open.

Initially, the tribals were reluctant to construct toilets at their homes but when they were made to realise, through street plays and posters, how they were suffering from various diseases like diarrhoea and malaria due to defecating in the open their mindset gradually changed, Debasish Patnaik, coordinator of district water and sanitary mission said.

The tribals were provided training in constructing toilets and Rs 2,200 was given by the administration to each of of the 31 BPL families of the village to built toilets.

"As 14 families at our village don't have BPL cards, they were not provided with the fund. So, we pooled the fund of the 31 families and donated to ensure that all the 45 families get a toilet from the fund meant for 31 families," said Pujari.

The villagers are now motivating people in nearby villages, like Jhimitiguda, Pipalguda and Dalaiguda to use toilets too.

The village also claim of achieving another social reform by restricting consumption of liquor to only Fridays and special occasions like pujas and marriages.

"The villagers are allowed to consume liquor only on Friday as the weekly market sits on that day. Moreover, villagers are not allowed to create nuisance after consuming liquor. If anyone is found consuming liquor on any other day and creating disturbance at the village, a fine of Rs 50 is imposed on him," said Sanjeev Sekhar Pujari, a villager.

"We have also restricted the use of cigarettes, bidis and chewing tobacco at the village," he added.

The villagers have started another practice of collecting Rs 5 each month towards creating a common fund pool to be used in times of emergency like taking a patient to the hospital and purchasing medicines.

"A meeting is held once a month, attended by at least one member from each family. All community decisions are taken at the meeting," said a villager.