Uttar Pradesh: Village public toilets to be maintained by women SHGs

PRAYAGRAJ: Hundreds of women associated with self-help groups (SHG) of the 23 development blocks of the district have been assigned the job of ensuring maintenance of community/public toilets built in their respective villages.
The panchayati raj department of the district has paid around Rs 2 crore to 566 SHGs, which have in turn, transferred the money to women folks for looking after the community toilets in their villages.
“After the construction of community toilets at the panchayat level, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had instructed officials to confer the responsibility of maintenance of these toilets on the women of SHGs,” informed district panchayati raj officer (DPRO) Alok Kumar Sinha. As per the information received from the government, Prayagraj stands seventh in the state in terms of payment made to SHGs, said the DPRO.
Under the scheme, the panchayati raj department has signed an MOU with the women of SHGs. The SHGs are paid a monthly amount of Rs 9,000 per toilet, out of which the honorarium of the female caretaker is Rs 6,000 and the rest of the money is used for items needed for maintenance of the toilet.
The official further informed that there are 23 development blocks and 1,540 panchayats in the district. “We have constructed 1,399 public toilets in these development blocks, and the maintenance of 929 toilets will be done by the SHGs,” said Sinha. All these public toilets have been geotagged.
As many as 66 public toilets have been tagged in Bahadurpur block, 85 in Baharia, 42 in Bhagwatpur, 18 in Chakka, 102 in Dhanupur, 68 in Handia, 51 in Holagarh, 63 in Jasra, 66 in Karchana, 53 in Koudhiyara, 32 in Kaurihar, 84 in Koraon, 68 in Manda, 54 in Mauyama, 68 in Meja, 65 in Phoolpur, 71 in Pratappur, 42 in Sahson, 78 in Saidabad, 71 in Shankargarh, 48 in Shringverpur, 47 in Soraon and 57 public toilets have been geotagged in Urvan panchayat, informed the DPRO.
Sinha further informed that out of the target 1,540 toilets, construction of 1,399 toilets is complete and their details have been uploaded on the website Government of India, The he construction work of the remaining toilets will be completed within a month.
“There are six gram panchayats where we have failed to find suitable land for the construction of toilets,” said Sinha.
The 929 toilets that have been handed over to the panchayats are being maintained by SHGs. The panchayati raj department has paid money to 566 SHGs for looking after these toilets, he added.