Patna: Bihar politicians who do not have toilets in their homes will not be eligible to contest in local bodies’ polls anymore.
In a revolutionary measure aimed at creating awareness about sanitation, the state government in Bihar headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has now barred politicians who don’t have toilets in their homes from contesting elections to the Gram Panchayat (village administrative bodies) and urban bodies.
The chief minister said his government would soon bringing amendments in the existing legislations to make toilets at home a basic criteria for contesting in local bodies’ elections. The government believes the move would prove quite helpful in achieving the target of declaring Bihar an “open-defecation free” state by 2022.
“We are soon bringing a legislation to bar persons from contesting local bodies’ elections if they don’t have toilets at home,” Kumar told a function organised in Patna on Tuesday to mark World Toilet Day, adding his government was serious in their aim to have more toilets than mobile connections to free the state of open defecation. He also announced he would give Rs10,000 (Dh588) to each household to have toilets installed at home, adding that government officials would be engaged to monitor the quality of construction.
“Open defecation is the source of nearly 90 per cent of ailments. Its elimination will be a great service for the generation to come,” said the chief minister.
As per the assessment of the state government, around 22 million households in Bihar do not have toilets in their homes and are forced to defecate in the open, which is said to be the cause of many ailments. As per the report, only 17.6 per cent of households in Bihar have toilets. Of the total 82.4 per cent of households without toilets, 85 per cent are located in rural areas whereas the remaining 26 per cent falls in the urban areas.
This is the scene in Bihar despite the government giving money to villagers under the Total Sanitation Campaign to have toilets installed at home, apart from launching intensive awareness campaigns among the masses about their importance. The general complaint is that agencies engaged in the construction of these toilets have embezzled money from beneficiaries.
This is the second time in quick succession that the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar had adopted such measures with the larger national interest in mind. Earlier, the state government had barred leaders with more than two children from contesting elections in the local civic bodies’ and municipal polls, which eventually led to the disqualification of two councillors as they went on to have more than two children after winning the elections.
