Shelpe villagers don’t have toilets

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been saying that every villager would get free toilet in their house for the past three years. The Government is spending lot of money on toilet advertisements, but till date there is not a single toilet in Shelpe village, Valpoi.

Ninety per cent of Shelpe villagers do not have toilet at home. All villagers use the open space near the village river side. The villagers bathe and wash their clothes and also use the same river water for domestic purpose, for the past many decades, say villagers.

All Shelpe villagers have submitted the toilet files to the Nagargao Panchayat, long back. Till date there is no reply from the panchayat, they say.

In 1982, the water supply department had built a borewell but since there is no maintenance, the water from it is now yellow, muddy and oily. So many times villagers have complained to the water supply department but they have not taken any action. Also they have shown this bore well water to their local MLA many times, and all times villagers have got only promises no action.

While drinking the river’s dirty water and the yellowish, muddy and oily water from the borewell, Shelpe villagers are falling sick every day Besides this, many Shelpe villagers don't have gas connections at home and still use the traditional 'Chula' to prepare food.

There are 52 houses and 251 people residing in Shelpe, and all villagers are not financial strong to construct a toilets with their own money.

“I have applied for a toilet and have submitted a file to the Panchayat, but till now there is no reply from Panchayat, says Fati Shablo Gaonkar, a villager.

Another villager, Mahadev Laxman Chorlekar, says that he had “submitted the toilet file to the Panchayat, 10 years ago. But the panchayat has not given us toilet, they have given it to selected few. Our panchayat is playing politics with us.”

At the time of election, we are getting promises from our MLA that he will provide clean water and free toilets to every villager. But after elections, no one cares about us, says Rukmini Vithal Gaonkar, a village woman.

When we boil the water an oily layer comes up. There are some farms in our village which are throwing waste chemicals in our village river, says another village woman Savitri Sawant.

We have made a list as recommended by the block development officer, Sattari Taluka. This list consists of villagers who don't have toilets at home and who cannot afford to build one themselves. We have already submitted that list to the higher authority, says Sarpanch Parag Khadilkar.

The Shigella Bacteria was found in stools when tested. Shigella is a water-borne disease which transmits through contamination of water and causes diarrhoea (loose motion) vomiting and pain in abdomen.

The Manipal centre for virus research team had taken samples of blood, stools, urine and saliva of patients who were admitted to the Valpoi Primary Health Centre and discovered the bacteria, says Health officer Dr. Gajanan Naik.

Manipal Centre for virus Research which had found out monkey fever in Sattari during 2014 has also diagnosed the cause of Shelpe village out break from Shigella bacteria.

Sources said that villagers have to stop polluting and using river water now and use tanker water, which is supplied by water supply department. Till date, 14 villagers have been admitted to the Valpoi Community Health Centre.