Aarti Dhar An Anganvadi centre at Deganga village in North 24 Pargana district of West Bengal. KOLKATA: Five years ago it was difficult to enter or walk past the narrow by-lanes of Hadipur Jhikra-I Gram Panchayat of Deganga block in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal because of overbearing stench, dirt and flies. Today the scene is different. The village panchayat has overcome the challenge of open defecation. Every house in this pre-dominantly Muslim hamlet with 2,751 households has a toilet, as does the anganwadi center, school and the primary health sub-centre. Villagers now say with a sense of pride that they have applied for the Nirmal Gram Puraskar award given by the Central Government under its Total Sanitation Campaign for villages that achieve full sanitation coverage. But this journey from 2001 to now was not easy, recalls Mashqura Begum who was the driving force behind this movement. When she approached the villagers to construct toilets in their homes, the first thing they would ask was about its utility. For those living below the poverty line, food and health were the priority. Little did they realise, health was directly related to sanitation, and dignity and safety was an added aspect for women, she says. To send the message across, she began with constructing a toilet in her own house and subsequently went door-to-door telling people, women in particular, about the benefits of sanitation. Her next target was the anganwadi center that was constructed on the land donated by her grandmother Gulal Bibi.