The Congress has disputed the ‘outdoor defecation-free taluk’ tag granted to Koppa, alleging that several people have not got toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission. Party leaders claimed that taluk officials got the tag by making false claims.
Recently, Home Minister G. Parameshwara, who is in charge of Chikkamagaluru district, declared Koppa as free of open defecation and handed over a certificate to the Koppa Taluk Panchayat. Former zilla panchayat president H.M. Satish, Congress leader Sudhir Kumar and others took journalists to villages in Narsipur and Marithotlu gram panchayats last week to show that many houses did not have toilets. The Congress leaders said households in 22 GPs in the taluk did not have toilets. The BJP has been in power in Koppa TP for over 12 years.
The taluk was declared free of open defecation as Koppa TP had met the target set based on a baseline survey conducted in 2012. B.M. Pramod, Panchayat Development Officer of Marithotlu GP, said, “There was a baseline survey in 2012. Based on the survey we completed construction of toilets last year itself. In addition, we found 12 more households without toilets and granted subsidy to them also.”
However, the officer said, some unauthorised constructions have not yet got subsidy under for toilets. “These households are yet to be legalised. Unless these properties are regularised, we cannot sanction subsidy under the mission,” he said.
