Date:12/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/12/stories/2006051218010300.htm

Karnataka - Mangalore

Work on total sanitation in full swing

Staff Correspondent

65 gram panchayats to be covered

Officials urged to take personal interest in the campaign
List of the gram panchayats to be forwarded to Centre

Every household in the identified gram panchayats would have a toilet

MANGALORE: Work on total sanitation campaign in Dakshina Kannada district is progressing in full swing. Efforts are on to ensure at least 65 of the 203 gram panchayats in the district qualify for Nirmal Puraskar as per guidelines laid down by the Union Ministry for Panchayat Raj and Rural Development, Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat president Mamatha Gatti has said.

Ms. Gatti, who presided over the monthly review meeting of 20-point Karnataka Development Programme here on Thursday, said steps would be taken to ensure that every household in these 65 gram panchayats had a toilet. The list of these panchayats would be forwarded to the Union Ministry after ensuring that they met the other criterion laid down for the Puraskar.

Ms. Gatti advised the officials to take personal interest in ensuring that villages in panchayats entrusted to them participated in the campaign in right earnestness. She urged them to perform "shramdhan" in these village once a week.

Ms. Gatti asked the officials to chalk out a course of action keeping in mind last year's target.

On the issue of providing potable water to people in rural areas, Ms. Gatti appealed to A.M. Kunjappa, Chief Executive Officer of the zilla panchayat, to do the needful.

Mr. Kunjappa said names of officials lagging behind in this regard would be forwarded to the respective secretaries for appropriate action against them. Dharanendra Kumar, panchayat vice-president, andd K. Sundar Salian, Asha Thimappa Gowda, and Abdul Aziz Malar, chairpersons of standing committees, were present. T.J. Takath Rai, Chief Planning Officer, welcomed the gathering.