To check the spread of Covid-19 in slum areas of Ahmedabad city and to facilitate hand washing for residents there, two voluntary organisations have started putting up portable handwash stations at 18 slum pockets of the city.Due to the lack of sanitation and awareness in slum areas they are more vulnerable to experience the spread of Covid-19. Keeping this in mind, the project was started by the Agakhan Agency for Habitat (AAH) with UNICEF support in Ahmedabad.
The target is to put 35 stations in slum pockets of five major areas of Ahmedabad – Danilimda, Behrampura, Ramol, Vasna and Sarkhej. So far nine hand washing stations have been completed and installed.Programme Coordinator of AAH, Mohammed Irfan Khalifa, said that the project is being implemented during Covid-19 to provide modern and easily available hand wash facility to slum dwellers.
AAH’s hand washing stations are easy to use and are operated with pedals. In order to raise awareness, information about proper hand washing methods and personal hygiene was disseminated amongst the residents.AAH has appointed cleanliness committees in respective wards for the maintenance of these stations.After Ahmedabad city project, the organisation is planning to add fourteen such stations in the slums of Surat city, Khalifa said.
