Tenants will now be able to apply for bio-toilets sans NOC from landlords

PANAJI: The government will soon amend the Mundkar/ tenancy act, wherein the tenants would no longer require No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the landowners/ landlords for constructing toilets near their house. 

Coming out with this information, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said that as a part of its drive against open defecation, the government would be providing 60,000 bio-toilets in the state at a cost of Rs 280 crore under the Open Defecation Free (ODF) programme of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

“As per the estimation, 70 per cent of these 60,000 toilet-less families in Goa, have their own land,” he added, informing that wherever there is no tenancy land, the toilet-less families would be provided with community toilets.

The Chief Minister told the state legislative assembly, during the Question Hour on Wednesday that the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) will be tendering the purchase of the bio-toilets under the particular programme by August 12, 2018. “Furthermore, the directorate of panchayat as well as the Rural Development Agency (RDA) would be assisting the Corporation to implement the scheme,” he noted.

Parrikar, replying to a question from Congress MLA Wilfred D’Sa said that it would prove difficult for a single contractor to provide such a large number of bio-toilets within a period of two to three months due to which the government has decided to take on board seven to eight contractors for completing the task.

It was also informed that each toilet costing between Rs 35,000 and Rs 40,000 would sustain itself for a period of ten years. “These toilets would be made from cemented boards with a coat of paint and have a bio-digester as well as a wash basin,” Parrikar said, maintaining that the earlier scheme of providing Sulabh Shauchalays – scavenging-free two-pit pour-flush toilets – is in chaos.