Swachh Bharat is unheard here

Mahabubnagar: Even though more than 2 years have passed since the launch of ‘Swachh Bharat’ progarmme by the Central government in the country, people in the remote village of Sallonipally under Dhanwada mandal of Mahabubnagar are unaware of any such kind of a sanitary programme. Out of 384 households in the village a majority of people living in 336 house hold are still defecating in the open every day and are falling prey to various diseases.

Expressing his concern over the status of the ‘Swachh Bharat’ programme in the Sallonipally village Collector Ronald Rose said, “It is painful to see that even after 4 national programmes since 1951 to the latest Swachh Bharat programme two years back, people have not changed and still living in same conditions as 6 decades ago. It is time that we change our mindsets and move towards ‘swachata’ and development,” observed the Collector while taking part in an awareness progarmme on Swachh Bharat in Sallonipally village.

The Swachh Bharat programme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 2, 2014 and this programme is aimed at promoting better sanitation, cleanliness and to build a healthy India by encouraging the people particularly in the rural villages to build toilets in every house hold and avoid open defection.

However, the villagers of Sallonipally are left untouched with any such novel programmes of ‘Swatchata’ since decades. Even today out of a total population of 2264 in the village more than 2000 people are still going for open defecation. Having learned this, the Collector had organised an awareness camp, where all officials from the mandal and the village along with the students, parents and general public in the village attended the programme.

“In our country for every 100 people only 7 toilets are there and India tops the list in the world for its majority population going for open defecation. According to a survey it is revealed that more than 59 per cent of people in India are defecating in the open and Sallonipally is one among them,” said the Collector.

Giving a call to all the villagers, he urged the villagers to come forward and build their own toilets, for which the government will provide a financial support of Rs 12,000 to every house which build a toilet. He asked the officials to prepare a comprehensive plan and also urged all the owners of houses that have no provision for toilets to come forward and cooperate with the officials to complete the construction of 336 toilets in just two days.

“We want to make a record by constructing 336 toilets in Sallonipally in just two days. We are planning this programme on 18 and 19 of November,” informed the Collector. Addressing the students and villagers, he said that open defecation will lead to pollution of air, water and land and will cause various health problems to children and elders. Women and young girls will also face lot of inconvenience and face sexual harassment.

Srinivas Goud MLA, Mahabubnagar who also took part in the programme said that the TRS government is taking all necessary steps to develop Dhanwada mandal. “We have built major roads with an outlay of Rs 45 lakh, distributed 117 transformers and out of 384 households 200 households are drawing Asara pension. Our government keen to develop of this village and the entire mandal,” he said.