Ex-Mumbai cop scripts ‘toilet katha’ in Palghar hamlet

Avinash Dharmadhikari

A serving police officer has gone beyond the call of duty to transform a tribal hamlet, located 100 km from the city, with the help of Project Rise, the philanthropic wing of the Dawoodi Bohra community.

Bhotal pada, a tribal hamlet in Daghe, Palghar, has a population of over 130 people, who have been practising open defecation for years. Sachin Pachalkar, a graduate, residing in Bhotal pada, said the hamlet had a single toilet, but since it has no door or roof, people seldom used it, and instead preferred venturing into the nearby forest area. "During monsoon, women and young girls would find it difficult to venture into the forest area, especially late in the night, fearing attack by crawling creatures, including snakes. Many educated girls, who would marry men from our pada, would express their disagreement if the family didn't have a toilet in their home," said Pachalkar. While nearby villages had toilets constructed as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat Mission, Bhotal pada's application remained in the files of the local Gram panchayat office, he said.

Project Rise constructed toilets next to the tribal houses in Bhotal Pada

Over the last two years, Avinash Dharmadhikari, former Mumbai ACP, presently attached with the State Police Training Academy, Nasik as deputy superintendent, helped build 11 self-contained public toilets in Bhotal, so that the community became open defecation-free. Pachalkar said that Dharmadhikari has also been instrumental in bringing other positive transformations in their hamlet, encouraging education of girls, and planning for future sustainable development of their pada with several skill development programmes.

Dharmadhikari was earlier posted as Senior Inspector of Sakinaka Police Station (2015-2018), before being promoted as ACP Dongri division, where he was known for his community policing initiative. According to Pachalkar, the tribes residing at their pada are mostly from the Warli community; they work as farmers and daily wage earners. "Like most tribal padas, Bhotal was underdeveloped with no potable water facility or open defecation, and moreover no vision for the young school and college dropouts, who were mostly jobless."

Two years ago, during Diwali, Dharmadhikari, who was then ACP, along with a few of his friends and members of Keshav Srushti, an NGO working on tribal welfare programmes, visited the village. Speaking with mid-day, Dharmadhikari said, "The tribals in that pada, never ever had any police officer visit them before and were hence, excited. The locals discussed their problems with us."

On his return to Mumbai, Dharmadhikari discussed the issue with Project Rise, which agreed to construct 11 new toilets, and repair the broken ones in other nearby padas. "Today, 24 of my friends and I have adopted the families staying in the pada, and are trying to uplift their circumstances in any way we can," he added.

Yusuf Hakimuddin, member of Project Rise, said, "When we first met families here, we were surprised that the village never had a toilet. We decided to solve their problems of open defecation by providing access to adequate sanitation facilities." Besides constructing toilets in the village, volunteers of Project Rise are also conducting awareness campaigns to educate members of the village, particularly women, about the importance of maintaining hygiene and healthy living habits.