Baripada: In a contrasting narrative to the much-hyped success of the Swacch Bharat Mission, the scheme has failed to make any headway in various parts of Mayurbhanj district.
Crores of rupees are being pumped into the scheme, but several hundreds of toilets built in rural areas are unable to be of any use for the villagers due to faulty, botched-up construction and lack of monitoring and maintenance. In many cases, toilets for families have allegedly been built on government land too, which has led to resentment among people.
The programme is being implemented in the district from October 2, 2014. The district has 26 blocks. In Shyamakhunta block, for instance, the administration has set a target of providing toilets to 18,000 families in 14 panchayats. Three years have passed, but only 6,841 toilets were built.
Beneficiaries have alleged irregularities in the scheme, claiming that while Rs 12,000 is allocated for each toilet unit, some firms which were awarded construction work are misusing the money by building the toilets with sub-standard material.
In some cases, toilets were built outside the land of the beneficiaries. There are cases where a single toilet was reportedly built for three or five families.
In a backward district like Mayurbhanj, the government has set a target of building toilets for 5,66,094 poor families. It is learnt that even three years and seven months after its implementation, only 41,067 families were provided toilets. The achievement is measured at only 25 percent in the district.
Panchami Singh and Ranjani Singh, two beneficiaries, said, “The contractor built toilets on government land instead of on our land. Toilets were even built at one place using common walls. In such cases, men and women do not find it comfortable using toilets side by side.”
Jaynarayan Sita, executive engineer of RWSS, said,” I have received no such complaints. If I receive one, only then will I be able to take action.”
Recently, collector Surendra Kumar Meena has taken action in case of irregularities in toilet construction in Badasahi block while some officials involved in the scam were fined.
Such irregularities were also reported from Shyamakhunta block. Irregularities and tardy pace of toilet construction have now put a question mark over the competency of the department. Locals have demanded a high-level probe into the irregularities in the execution of the scheme. PNN
