The claim being made by the Trivendra Singh Rawat Government of making rural Uttarakhand open defecation free sounds hollow in view of the fact that the menace is still continuing unabated in the rural areas of many districts in the State, including Haridwar where the villagers are still going to the open fields to attend to the nature’s call.
Alarmed by the situation, the Haridwar District Magistrate has urged all concerned to ensure that the district is made open defecation free on the ground by the end of this year.
With the Swachchh Bharat Mission- the dream campaign of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-being made the mantra of the Centre and the State Governments run by BJP, the Trivendra Singh Rawat Government announced with much fanfare in the presence of some Union Ministers a few months ago that the rural areas of the state have been freed from the practice of open defecation, thus making it the fourth state in India to achieve the target. The targeted 2.42 lakh families living in the gram panchayat areas have been shown on the paper as using toilets. However, their physical verification is yet to be done. The reality is that the village women across the district are easing themselves in the open during early morning hours and after the evening descends. “Such toilets are still dream for us as we have to fetch water trudging a long distance,” said such a woman living in a village not very far from Haridwar city.
Notably, the target of making toilets for 2.43 lakh households in the rural areas was fixed following a baseline survey conducted by the Centre. After extension of several deadlines, the target was claimed to have been met in July this year, albeit on paper. However, things on the ground have vastly remained unchanged. Many households have been adorned with toilets, but they are non-functioning sans water.
Speaking to The Pioneer, project director DRDA and in-charge Peyjal, Sanjeev Rai said, “The target of constructing toilets under Namami Gange and Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan has been met. We are now busy making list of the families still left out. Once the report is released the work of constructing new toilets would start.”
The areas under the municipal corporation are also pathetic. Most of the families living in 47 slum colonies under the municipal corporation are going in the open to ease themselves. The deadline jumping in a row-from December 31 2016 to June 2017-the district administration says that things must be completed by the end of this year anyhow.
Quizzed over the latest deadline, the district magistrate Haridwar Deepak Rawat said, “The whole of Haridwar district would be made ODF by December 31 this year. If the practice of easing in the open is found continuing in any municipal corporation area or Nagar panchayat area action would follow against the officers responsible for executing the government order of building toilet for every household of the district. We would not brook negligence any longer,” he said.