Telangana: No force to build for Open Defecation Free toilets

Hyderabad: The state government has instructed officials not to harass people to build toilets to achieve the target of open defecation free (ODF) state by April 2018. The government has asked officials, instead, to educate people on the need to have individual toilets. The orders came in the backdrop of reports of officials resorting to disconnecting power supply, stopping rations and pensions among others in some districts to bring pressure on people to build toilets. 

The government took a serious view of a recent instance in Kamareddy district where officials resorted to snapping power supply in a tribal agency area for failing to construct toilets. It also received reports of a few officials in Khammam district stopping ration quota and social security pensions to the poor who failed to build individual toilets in their houses.

Minister for panchayat raj and rural development Jupally Krishna Rao issued instructions to department officials in all districts not to resort to such extreme measures as it would bring a bad name to the government. The government has set itself a target to achieve open defecation free tag to Telangana state by April 2018.

Some over-enthusiastic officials have set themselves a target of December 31 and are forcing people to build toilets without considering whether below poverty line families can afford to build toilets or not. The government gives a subsidy of Rs12,000 for each household to construct a toilet if they lack one. Beneficiaries complain that this is not enough, and they are forced to spend an additional Rs 8,000 due to increase in cement, sand and labour costs, which they cannot afford.

Out of over 10,500 revenue villages, less than 1,000 could secure the ODF tag till now and the government is racing against time to meet the goal of 100 per cent ODF by April 2018. “We have issued strict instructions to officials not to harass people to build toilets. They should abstain from resorting to power disconnection, witholding ration, pensions etc. Instead they were asked to education people on the need to have individual toilets and assist them in completing construction of toilet within Rs 12,000 budget,” Mr Krishna Rao said.