Krishna Kumar Hitler, a resident of Arhauli in Khagaria district, used to hate seeing men in his village squat by the roadside at dawn to relieve themselves and women being forced to wake up even earlier for their morning ritual.

After attending the community-led total sanitation programme organised by Bihar State Water and Sanitation Mission and the Bihar chapter of Unicef, Krishna began persuading fellow residents to get toilets built in their houses.

The joint effort of the Khagaria district administration and Krishna resulted in Rampur in Khagaria district, around 180km east of Patna, being declared the first open defecation-free panchayat.

Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) director Nipun Vinayak and then district magistrate Saket Kumar praised Krishna's hard work, which helped Rampur clinch the tag of pride on August 10, 2015.

Speaking at a programme organised by the Unicef's state chapter at its office on Friday, Pravin More, the water, sanitation and hygiene specialist of the Unicef's state chapter, highlighted the contributions of many like Krishna who have helped rid their villages of open defecation.

"Krishna helped panchayats like Borna and Rahimpur to earn the status," he said.

Pravin also cited examples of village girls who mounted pressure on their families to get toilets constructed in their houses. "There is one girl who stopped eating food for three days while another sold her anklets to get a toilet built in her house," Pravin said.

According to Unicef data, 59 gram panchayats and 94 villages have achieved the open defecation-free status.

The hygiene specialist also spoke of the sanitation technology park, a first-of-its-kind initiative in the state.

"The park has models on water, sanitation and hygiene. The first segment shows natural herb-based water purifier system, which is readily available. Households can adopt techniques to purify wastewater before it percolates into the ground. Next, it shows importance of washing hands with soap. The third shows eight toilet models, including twin pits for flush toilet, compact toilet-cum-bathroom, toilets for differently abled and bio-digestion toilet among others."