Heera Kumar, a 10-year-old boy, has become a hero for the people of a village in East Champaran, Bihar. The district is hoping to be open defecation free, and the young boy’s work has taken the mission a step forward.
Heera lives in the Jamuniya village in Bihar and was visiting his maternal grandmother in Ghiwadhar. Upon reaching there, he discovered that many villagers had constructed toilets at their homes, but his grandmother could not afford to do so.
She was also not fit enough to build a toilet by herself, and since neither of her sons live with her, having shifted outside the state for work, she also did not have the necessary help to go about completing this task.
So, the young boy took up the task himself.
Speaking to The Hindustan Times, Heera said, “Like many other villagers, she too wanted to avoid embarrassment caused by open defecation. But she did not have money to build a toilet. I could not bear to see her helplessness.”
The young boy picked up a spade, and for two entire days, toiled endlessly under the hot sun, and successfully dug two pits, measuring four feet each. He consequently fell ill, but not before the news of his fantastic deed came to the attention of the village and district heads.
Speaking to HT, Rita Devi, the mukhiya of the village panchayat said,
“It took him two days to dig the pits, and afterwards he fell ill. Now, we have decided to complete the construction within a week.”
“Heera is a role model of Swachh Bharat Mission. We will do everything to encourage and support such stories so that more and more people and children gravitate towards the cleanliness drive,” added Raman Kumar, the district magistrate of East Champaran.
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And that’s not all. Radha Mohan Singh, the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, felicitated him and announced a reward of Rs 10,000 to fund his education!
(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)
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