Build Toilets Or Face Power Cut, SDM Threatens Rajasthan Villagers

This is not the first time that Kartar Singh, the SDM of Jahajpur block, is sending out such orders.

Updated on: 20 August 2017 5:47 pm

A sub-divisional officer (SDO) threatened to snap power connections of households in Jawaharpura area of Bhilwara district if the villagers do not build toilets.

The sub-divisional magistrate Kartar Singh ordered the discom officials to disconnect electricity supply to the village after 15 days if they do not construct toilets reported NDTV.

According to a survey conducted, only 19 per cent of the household in Gangi Kala village have toilets. There are 38 village panchayats in his jurisdiction and only 10 are open defecation free.

“Only 19% of the villagers -- 322 of 1556 households -- have constructed toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission, a cleanliness drive launched on October 2, 2014. A majority of the villagers defecate in the open though officials have made them understand its harmful effects,” Hindustan Times reported quoting the SDM.

“The villagers have been given 15 days’ time to construct toilets; if they do not construct toilets and defecate in the open, then power supply should be cut off,” the SDM said in an order issued to the power department on August 8. “Even after 15 days we will convince them, and if they do not agree, then power supply will be cut off and their rations should be stopped also,” he said.

However, a senior Bhilwara district administration officer said that the orders have been withdrawn and claimed that the order is too harsh for the villagers.

“People should be persuaded, not threatened,” the officer said.

In Bhilwara district, 190 are ODF. The district administration, which has constructed 20,000 toilets this year, has to build 1.60 lakh more to make Bhilwara ODF reported HT.

According to a HT report, the administration has also launched a mobile application -- ‘Ujalo Bhilwaro’ -- a few days back to ensure regular inspection by teams against open defecation and pursue people to construct toilets. Team members have to click selfies and upload them on the application to show their presence in the assigned village.

Kartar Singh’s diktat has come at a time when Akshay Kumar’s movie “Toilet Ek Prem Katha” is doing well in the box office.