Team Herald
PANJIM: The Goa Human Rights Commission (GHRC) has directed the Anjuna-Caisua village panchayat and the Directorate of Panchayats complete the construction of a toilet for a senior citizen which was pending for more than five years due to dispute between the tenant and the landlord.
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The two-member Commission said that the balance 30 per cent work of the toilet should be done through the authorised agencies, with a functional soak pit near the house of the complainant within next 60 days.
The 81-year-old Radabai Morajkar of Anjuna had filed a complaint dated June 20, 2024 before the GHRC seeking to urgently resolve her toilet facility issue. She stated that her son had a deposited fee of Rs 10,000 with the panchayat on February 18, 2019 for the construction of a toilet but it remained incomplete due the absence of a soak pit.
The panchayat in its reply stated that Morajkar’s individual household latrine (IHHL) could not be completed due to non-availability of land. The toilet was presently completed about 70 per cent.
Adv A Bacal arguing on behalf of the applicant pointed out that the Director of Panchayats in May 2019 had issued a circular in respect of the scheme for supply and installation of individual house old bio-digester toilets in the State, which had to be provided without NOC/consent of the owner/landlord.
The Commission stated that there was violation of human rights of the complainant due to the negligence of the panchayat and the Directorate of panchayats. In the absence of the completed toilet, the complainant and her son had to go out in the open to answer nature’s calls, it said.
