Less than a week after Sulabh International Social Service Organisation rechristened Marora village in neighbouring Nuh as “Trump Sulabh Village” after United States President Donald Trump, all banners declaring the new identity of the village were brought down on Tuesday in compliance with directions by the district administration.
Sulabh International founder Bindeshwar Pathak said Nuh Deputy Commissioner Mani Ram Sharma had called a representative of the NGO to his office on June 25 and directed her to bring down the banners.
“However, the villagers refused to do so before Id and the administration allowed us the time till Monday. Mr. Sharma argued that we had not taken prior permission from the authority for the event,” said Mr. Pathak. He, however, claimed that the NGO had extended an invite to the Deputy Commissioner for the June 23 event but Mr. Sharma had not raise any objection then.
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At the event to rename the village, Mr. Pathak had said that only 40 households in the village had toilets. He declared that toilets would be built for the remaining 120 families. Besides, the NGO also has plans to repair the panchayat bhawan, open a sewing training centre for women and set up a tuition centre for the children of widows.
Open defecation-free
However, the locals argued that the NGO’s plan to build toilets for 120 households in the village seemed to have prompted the orders, as it was in contradiction to the local administration’s claim of the district being open defecation-free.
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