Promised private toilets not in sight for BPL residents

Kantaben Manilal a resident of Magan Kumbhar ni Chali near Shital Cinema says she has to go out in the open early in the morning for her morning chores. Qamrunnisa,an arthritic in the neighbourhood,says she finds it difficult to stand for long,but still has to wait for at least 20 minutes for her turn at a common toilet that has no water or light. About 200 residents share eight toilet blocks,four each for men and women.

Assistant City Engineer Abhay Dev admitted that more than half of the work is pending and that it will take another couple of months for completion.

I K Patel,Deputy Municipal Commissioner and main coordinator of GKM in the city,said: “It was our first Mela,but now we have rectified the mistake. In the new papers for Nirmal Gujarat Shauchalaya Yojana,we do not give any date for completion.”

Local councillors Iqbal Shaikh and Bhanuben Makwana alleged that poor people were being fooled at the Garib Kalyan Mela. “The poor people are prominently shown in these melas,and videographed to show that they are taken care of so,but actually they get nothing,” said Shaikh.

Apparently,when women at a Garib Kalyan Mela at Dariapur told Mayor Kanaji Thakor that they were being denied BPL status,Thakor said,without naming the Congress,that the fault was theirs for having voted such persons.