In ODF State, 1,975 households are still without toilets

PANJIM: Goa was the first State to be officially declared as open defecation free (ODF) in September 2019. However, three years down the line, the reality is that around 1,975 individual households are still without toilets. Moreover, there are some beneficiaries, who have even demolished the newly constructed toilets, citing non-requirement. 

The implementing agency — the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) said that lack of land availability, poor response from beneficiaries on a ground issue, coupled with the lackadaisical attitude of the Directorate of Panchayats (DoP) – the nodal agency – has posed a hurdle in way of construction. The DoP has now written to the GWMC seeking list of 1,975 beneficiaries panchayat-wise to determine the exact ground issue. 

On September 1, 2019, Goa officially joined the ranks of ODF States after the Directorate of Panchayats and the Directorate of Municipal Administration declared rural and urban areas as ODF. 

As per the criteria, to achieve ODF status, the government has to construct community and public toilets in rural and urban areas. While areas have been declared as ODF, the construction of individual toilets will continue.

As of date, the GWMC has constructed 1,028 community toilets and 18,000 bio-digester-based individual household toilets. The DoP had submitted 19,975 applications for household toilets to the GWMC, who were constructing the toilets through M/s Sulabh International Social Service Organisation. The cost of each toilet was Rs 58,184. 

Speaking to Herald, GWMC Managing Director Levinson Martins said that the non-availability of the land has halted the construction of 19,75 toilets across Goa. 

He said that the Corporation, on several occasions wrote to DoP requesting to make land available, in absence of which we cannot construct the latrines. 

“However, the DoP failed to respond,” he said adding “There are also cases, where the beneficiaries, after applying, are now reluctant to allow construction of toilets.”

“There are some beneficiaries, who have even demolished the constructed toilets,” he explained. 

When contacted, DoPDirector Siddhi Halarnkar said that the department has written to the GWMC to provide the list of beneficiaries, and panchayat wise and to undertake field inquiry and sort out the issue. 

“Once the Corporation gives us the list, we will go on the ground to understand the problem and only then we will be able to resolve it. Whether it is really a land issue or some other issue, we have to see,” she said. 

Halarnkar said that the GWMC, in the past had informed that due to “personal rivalries” among beneficiaries and neighbours, the toilets could not be constructed, as the objections were raised. 

She brought to the notice that the Health Department, under the Public Health Act 2013, invoked Section 94A for providing bio-digester toilets for applicants without a no-objection certificate or consent of the owner or landlords. 

The Director further informed that there are sufficient numbers of public as well as community toilets, which are under use.