Badnawar: Building toilets in rural India was one of the major promises Prime Minister Narendra Modi made in his first Independence Day address from the ramparts of Red Fort in 2014, and thus began the ambitious Swachh Bharat mission to turn India clean and hygienic.
But, dream and reality are two different things. Despite PM’s promise and subsequent hype, the campaign is marred by several scams reported in various parts of the country. In one such discouraging incident, massive corruption in toilet construction under the campaign has been reported here in Dothriya village, 10 km away from Badnawar janpad panchayat in Dhar district.
According to information, several people in the village, in connivance with the janpad panchayat officials have not constructed toilets in their homes despite receiving a fund of Rs 12,000 each, provided by Public Health Engineering (PHE) department for the purpose. Primary investigation revealed that there were 47 such houses under the gram panchayat where such irregularities surfaced.
There were also allegations of siphoning the grant by producing photos of fake construction or toilets made previously under the campaign. This apart, villagers also alleged corruption in selecting beneficiaries for the campaign and complained about substandard toilet construction work.
The malpractice came to light when some beneficiaries approached Dothriya gram panchayat to claim the grant for toilet construction and return empty handed after finding that their amount had already been credited into some other bank accounts. Narrating his ordeal, one of the complainants Shambhu, a government teacher by profession, claimed that he had constructed a toilet in his residence on his own and upon requesting the gram panchayat to release his due after that, the officials informed him that his beneficiary amount for the same had already been transferred to someone else’s bank account.
Similarly, another beneficiary Chandra, son of Heera, claimed that his amount was also deposited in the account of another person Kundan, son of Heeralal in a single instalment. As soon as the news spread, villagers, who had already constructed toilets in their homes, but yet to receive the grant, immediately rushed to the gram panchayat office to know the status of their claim.
Sources said that the concerned officials misled their seniors with fake reports of toilet construction, as either toilets were only constructed on papers in as many as 47 homes in the village or officials claimed to have constructed toilets for the families, that are not living in the village for years.
On being asked, Dhar district panchayat chief executive officer and district in charge collector Ravindra Choudhary said that he came to know about the incident only through messages circulated on social media. “This is a serious allegation and if any government official is found involved in it, stern action will be taken against the guilty,” he said, adding that “We already have directed Badnawar CEO to conduct a probe into the matter.”
Additional collector DK Nagendra too warned of strict action against any official found guilty. Nagendra informed that he is going to direct Badnawar sub-divisional magistrate Ekta Jaiswal and Badnawar janpad panchayt chief executive officer Pradeep Pal to conduct a thorough investigation and send the detailed report to the headquarters at the earliest.
