Having constructed more than 6 lakh individual household toilets and over 500 school toilets, the founder of Gramalaya in Tiruchirappalli District of Tamil Nadu is a swachhata champion in the truest sense, a distinction for which he was honoured with a Padma Shri in 2022.  In this interview S. Damodaran talks about comprehensive interventions that are needed for ODF sustainability and the importance of community participation to bring about lasting change.

What led you down the sanitation path?

As a NSS volunteer in college, I travelled to many villages in and around Tiruchirappalli where I saw the numerous struggles of communities – for basic necessities such as clean drinking water and safe sanitation.  They suffered from various health issues that stemmed from the faecal oral route to disease transmission.  Thereafter, participating in relief operations after major floods, made me realise that I wanted to make a fundamental difference in the lives of the village communities. I joined Anthyodaya Foundation for Rural Development as a grass root worker, only to realise that there was much work to be done and it had to begin with me.  With the motivation of like-minded friends, I started Gramalaya in 1987 to provide sustainable sanitation solutions.

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