On International Women’s day the rural women of Murshidabad district made a decent appeal for construction of toilets at their homes.

Rural women~all working as silk farmers at Mallikpur- Diara village in Murshidabad district~have to defecate in the open as they have no toilets at home.

Yesterday, they attended a programme for celebrating International women’s day at the Central Sericulture Research and Training Institute at Behrampore.

Many of the working women belonging to self-help groups of silk farmers got a chance to voice their demand for toilets at their homes. Responding to their demand, the CSRTI authority gave a token grant of Rs 25,000 to one SHG of Mallikpur-Diara while women of other groups asked for more funds.

The Director of CSRTI, Dr. Kanika Trivedi, however, assured financial assistance would be extended to women working as silk-farmers under SHG, who have no toilets.

“We have to source funds for the construction of toilets in the households of female silk-farmers. Primarily we shall ensure that at least 30 women get toilets.

It’s a matter of shame that our working women defecate in the open while we are celebrating programme for women empowerment,” said Dr. Trivedi.

Mallikpur-Diara is a an agro-based village in Nagar area under Khargram block in Murshidabad district.

Though the Murshidabad district administration is quite close to declaring the Muslim minority dominated Murshidabad district as open defecation free (ODF), there are areas yet to be covered by Swachh-Bharat or Nirmal Bangla Mission.

Meanwhile, International Women’s Day was also observed at Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) yesterday to relook and strengthen women’s right, equality, justice and empowering women.

On this occasion, a function was organized at Fair Weather House Institute of KoPT. Vinit Kumar, chairman, KoPT and S. K. Sadangi, chief vigilance officer, KoPT, graced the occasion as chief guest and as a special guest respectively.

Arundhati Chakraborty, assistant manager (personnel and admn.), Andrew Yule & Co. Ltd. graced the occasion as guest speaker. S. Pradhan, secretary and other heads of the departments and senior officers of KoPT were present in the function.

Vinit Kumar, chairman, KoPT, stated KoPT is proud to have dedicated female employees working in almost every department.

The chairman further stated the standing of women employees in West Bengal organisations in terms of respect and recognition are more attributed.

S. K. Sadangi, chief vigilance officer, KoPT, appreciated the contribution of female employees in KoPT management and overall awareness of women’s rights. ]

He also stated that all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres including trafficking and sexual exploitation should be eliminated.