Harpic celebrates World Toilet Day 2020

Harpic celebrated World Toilet Day on Thursday through a webinar themed "Sustainable Sanitation and Climate Change."

With the goal of creating awareness about toilet use, the day was celebrated under the slogan 'Shasthoshommoto Toilet Shustho Desh,' read a press release.

Md Abul Kalam Azad, special envoy of UN Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF); Rafiqul Islam, senior manager of BRAC; Tariq bin Yusuf, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Project director and chief urban planner; Monirul Alam, UNICEF Wash specialist; and Nusrat Jahan, marketing director; Md Rakib Uddin, external affairs manager; Sabrin Maruf Tinni, senior brand manager of Reckitt Benckiser (RB) took part in the webinar.

"Currently, 98 percent of the people in the country are using toilets; But if it is a question about hygienic toilets, then the projections come down by 50%. Although Dhaka city has a fairly good situation, the situation in the non-urban areas is concerning. Besides, trains and water transports do not have access to hygienic toilets and adequate water," said Md Abul Kalam Azad.

"Starting with school-going children, we all need to be aware of the overall issue, not just the use of hygienic toilets. Installation of tubewell and toilets should be done maintaining proper distance. Working closely with RB and Bangladesh Scouts we have to raise awareness on the issue playing our own respective roles individually," he added.

Rafiqul Islam, Senior Manager of BRAC said, "We have many challenges to undertake with sanitation. I have been working with various initiatives on the matter. Currently, we are working to place the toilets in the flatlands and flood-prone areas at a higher place. "

Tariq bin Yusuf said, "Isolating toilets is not enough; hygienic toilets must be ensured. The toilets in Dhaka city are being operated with a new sense of awareness. We are working with almost all NGOs. We will face many problems: we have to solve them all together.''

Monirul Alam said, "At present, there are 16 million students in 130,000 schools across the country. We must ensure clean and hygienic toilets for them. When reconstructing a toilet to install handwashing materials, we must make sure that the urine from the toilet does not pass into local water bodies. "

Nusrat Jahan said, "To a good chunk of the mass, Harpic and toilet hygiene is a reflection of one another. Soon, in coordination with Scouts and BRAC, we will work on hygiene, not just toilets for school going students. We have a strong interest in working with the government. Besides, we are ready to work with those who want to work in this awareness-raising campaign. "