Swachh Bharat Abhiyan shortcut: Instead of toilets, holes dug in Uttar Pradesh

After the scam came to light, the state government has taken away the authority of the village head (gram pradhan) and secretary to construct toilets

A scam worth lakhs has unearthed in Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh where officials have been found guilty of misusing public money. Cases have been found where either a pothole has been dug or a seat has been given to construct the toilet. However, despite the Swachh Bharat Mission being Prime MInsiter Narendra Modi’s pet project, enough emphasis at the ground level has not been given to the construction of toilets.

After the scam in Etawah came to light, the state government has taken away the authority from the village head (gram pradhan) and secretary to construct toilets that are assigned as per the government schemes.

According to a report in Jansatta, the government used to give Rs 500 to the beneficiaries for the construction of toilets in the year 2004 and the amount was later raised to Rs 2,200 in 2006-07. Today government gives Rs 12,000 to the beneficiaries for the construction of toilets however the amount was taken out but toilets were not made. District Magistrate P. Guruprasad has issued a notice to village head and village development officer in the matter.

In the BPL list,  a resident of Takha village Rambabu is on the 76th number, the amount of money was taken out a few months back but toilets have not been constructed till date. Same is the case with Ramsewak who’s name is on the 84th spot in the list but only a hole has been dug in the name of the construction.

Former block chief Shiv Pratap Yadav said that in such a big scam there is a possibility of some other officials being involved in it. He demanded that an unbiased probe should be done in this case.  October 2017 was the target set for the district so as to get rid of open defecation. To achieve the target construction of 730 toilets per days was set.

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