Women lock up gram panchayat office in Gadag after open defecation resurfaces

GADAG : Angry over lack of public toilets despite making many requests to authorities, hundreds of women locked up the gram panchayat office at Dambal near Gadag for three hours on Friday. The women were protesting against open defecation which has resurfaced despite Gadag district being declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) in 2018.

It was only after the GP staff gave an assurance to the women that public toilets will be built soon that they unlocked the office. Neelavva Doddamani and Renuka Patil, residents of Dambal, said, “We have requested officials many a time to build new toilets and repair the ones which are not in a good condition. They have only been giving us false assurances. They have put an ODF board, but  some areas still do not have toilets. Dambal and other villages are ODF only on paper”.

Authorities blame the pandemic for the return of open defecation. They say that as the officials were busy in vaccination and awareness programmes during the pandemic they could not ensure enforcement of ODF rules. They also say that after the second wave, many ZP and GP officials started awareness programmes to stop open defecation but some villagers venture out to ease themselves during early morning and late evening hours.