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In the Indian State of Chhattisgarh, two widows, who belong to Below Poverty Line (BPL) category, have filed FIR with local police reporting theft of two toilets. The women want the police to trace the toilets as soon as possible and punish them accordingly. Of course, the police are bewildered receiving this complaint of one-of-its-kind theft – toilet theft.
As per the report, the theft took place in Amarpur village in Bilaspur region of the State. The toilets, built under ‘Swachh Bharat Campaign’ belonged to Bela Bai Patel (70) and her daughter Chanda(45).
The dream of open defecation free India has been applauded worldwide. Several States have already been declared open defecation free when in reality the practice is still widespread. However, someone is now stealing their toilets. In fact, the administration has been stealing a lot from the public in India.
In this particular case, the women have exposed an instance of blatant corruption in the construction of toilets in the State. Two women had gained approval from Janpad for construction of toilets under the campaign in 2015-16. When construction work didn’t begin after a year of approval, the woman approached the panchayat to inquire about the status.
The women were told that the construction of toilets has been completed long ago. In papers, the toilets was already built and given to the women. An RTI activist obtained information regarding the construction of toilets in the area and he was shocked to read the reply, which confirmed release and expenditure of construction of the toilet.
The activist exposed this cheap act of corruption in which toilets were only built “on paper and not on the ground”.
There is a gross irregularity in the construction of toilets under the ‘Clean India’ mission in Amarpur village. Not only these two women, but several other beneficiaries are affected by the corruption,
he alleged.
As per a report in The Indian Express, the report has been confirmed officially by Pendra janpad panchayat’s chief executive officer K S Dhruva.
Corruption has crept into India’s cleaning campaign, thus, proving that it’s the biggest issue that the Indian public must attend to immediately. The government should perhaps avoid messing with environmental issues and spare them from corruption.