In an effort to declare the entire Jagtial district as open defecation free (ODF) by January 2017, the district administration launched a novel programme of ‘non-stop 36-hour construction of 820 individual sanitary latrines (ISL)’ in five gram panchayats in the district from Tuesday.
The ambitious programme was launched by Collector A. Sharath along with Korutla legislator K. Vidyasagar Rao and other representatives of the local bodies. As per the plan, construction work on 200 ISLs at Obulapur village in Mallapur mandal was kicked-off on Tuesday morning which would continue till Wednesday morning. The programme was simultaneously launched at Anthargaon village (100 ISLs) in Jagtial mandal; Vengalayipeta (190) in Pegadapalli mandal; Nadikuta (130) village in Mallapur mandal and Bhupathipur (200) in Raikal mandal in the district.
The district officials have made all the arrangements for the successful and continuous work on ISLs in five gram panchayats by providing necessary construction material such as cement shallow bricks, sand, cement, asbestos sheets etc. For the purpose, they roped in masons and labourers well in advance to finish the work on a war-footing. Even special officers have been deployed for each gram panchayat to oversee the construction work along with other revenue staff.
The Collector told The Hindu that the work was taken up on a pilot basis to motivate the beneficiaries to make the district open defecation free by January 26 next. “We identified the beneficiaries well in advance with the support of local representatives and tied up with the officials to oversee the construction work. We also have deployed one mason and two labourers for the construction of two ISLs after providing them training,” he said.
He informed that the local representatives were playing a crucial role for the successful construction of ISLs in their respective gram panchayats by staying overnight at the villages.
He said Chief Whip Koppula Eshwar was making a night halt at Vengalyipeta village of Pegadapalli mandal on Tuesday.
The Collector hoped that a majority of ISLs would be completed within 24 hours in the district.