Giridih admin all set to declare 54 villages of 17 Giridih panchayats as ODF soon
P Mishra
Giridih ( Jharkhand): The Giridih district administration has initiated steps to declare 54 villages under 17 panchayats of the district Open Defecation Free (ODF) within a week.
In a bid to give a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Swachha Bharat Mission’, the district authorities have appealed the residents to use their private or government made toilets instead of continuing open defecation especially in the rural areas. “Ensuring complete stoppage of ‘open defecation’ is a joint responsibility of the citizens as well as the government officials. Accordingly, the district or block officials concerned have been directed to visit the areas under their respective jurisdictions to provide toilets to every household. The people have also been urged to use the toilet instead of defecating in open place otherwise they will be kept aloof from the benefits of government’s welfare schemes,” said Deputy Commissioner, Umashankar Singh, adding that at least 54 villages of 17 panchayats of Giridih will be declared ODF within a week. The district administration will organise social cum cultural programme to mark its success.
“The block officials, with the help of panchayat representatives, have prepared a list of citizens who have ignored, toilet constructions or have been deprived from the schemes due to other reasons so that a concrete step could be taken in this regard. Very soon, the distrifct administration will initiate steps to construct toilets in remaining villages. If everything goes well, vast portions of the district would be declared ODF villages within two and half months,” Singh said.