Journalism of Courage
Failure to build toilets in their homes in the stipulated time may cost four sarpanches,18 deputy sarpanches and 276 Gram Panchayat members their jobs.
On February 25 this year,then Pune district collector Chandrakant Dalvi had served notices under the Bombay Police Act,1951,and the Mumbai Gram Panchayat Act,1958,to all the Gram Panchayat members in the district saying if they fail to construct toilets in their homes in three months time,they will lose their membership. Accordingly,the Pune Zilla Parishad surveyed the houses and submitted a proposal on July 30 to the District Collector recommending that these members should be declared ineligible for the posts as they failed to meet the criteria.
After the deadline for the construction of toilets ended on April 10,block development officers (BDOs) conducted a survey in their respective blocks and submitted the report to the ZP, said Savita Dagade,president,Pune Zilla Parishad.
According to the report,71 members,including two sarpanches and eight deputy sarpanches from Khed taluka,havent built toilet blocks yet.
The ZP in his report has recommended to cancel the membership of defaulters. Additional Collector will serve notices to all these members in a couple of days following which action will be taken against them, said Vikas Deshmukh,Pune District Collector.
Under the Nirmal Gram programme,which aims at making villages open-defecation free,it was made compulsory for the members of Gram Panchayats to have toilets at their homes. Since these members are perceived as leaders in the villages,they should set an example for others, officials said.
