New Delhi: World's biggest toilet pot model was unveiled at Marora, popularly known as the "Trump village", in Haryana on the World Toilet Day today in a bid to create awareness towards sanitation and use of toilets.
The nondescript village, with a population of 1,800, in Mewat region was in June rechristened as "Trump village" by NGO Sulabh International Social Service Organisation in a gesture to US president Donald Trump ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington.
The Nuh district administration, however, later said the move to rename the village was "illegal", forcing the organisation members to remove boards mentioning the new name.
A mega pot of toilet made up of iron, fibre, wood and plaster of Paris - measuring 20x10 feet - was unveiled in the hamlet to mark the World Toilet Day, which is observed on November 19 to inspire action to tackle the global sanitation crisis.
Sanitation expert and Sulabh International founder Bindeshwar Pathak and other dignitaries inaugurated the "biggest toilet pot of the world" model and dedicated another 95 new household toilets to the residents of the village.
"It's a symbolic gesture to inaugurate a large toilet pot at Trump village to mark the World Toilet Day to create awareness among people towards the use of toilets and safe sanitation," Pathak said.
He said the large pot replica would be moved to Delhi's Sulabh Toilet Museum.
Pathak had in June announced in Washington his decision to adopt Marora. He had said the move was aimed to encourage businessmen adopt villages in India to promote sanitation.
Since then, Sulabh International has carried out the construction of toilets for every household and set up of a vocational training centre for girls in the village.
"Organising a programme in a remote village of Haryana on the World Toilet Day was a promotional concept in connection with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to make villages in India free from open defecation on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary year in 2019," Pathak said.
"Trump's slogan is 'Make America Great Again' and our Prime Minister's credo is 'Make in India', so I thought why not make a humble beginning honouring the friendship of the two," he said.
Apart from inaugurating individual toilets, two books on the use of toilets and sanitation were also released.
Pathak said he hoped the move would win enough attention and goodwill to raise awareness for a major social problem.
Puneet Ahulwalia, a member of the ruling Republican Party of the US, speaking on the occasion, said the initiative would go long way to motivate masses towards cleanliness and safe sanitation.
