Kota admn ropes in cops to make its villages ODF

Seeking to make Kota open defecation free (ODF) by November 30 this year, the district administration has now roped in police personnel to motivate people in rural areas.

Kota district collector (DC), Rohit Gupta and Kota Rural SP, Rajeev Pachar have issued a joint order for engaging beat constables of Kota rural police in the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM).

The order states that since chief minister Vasundhara Raje has fixed the target of making entire Rajasthan ODF by November 30, 2017, so the role of police was being considered vital.

“Open defecation is a social evil. The beat constables of every police station in Kota rural would be assigned the duty of motivating and checking people from open defecation,” Pachar told HT.

“The beat constables would take part in the morning follow up programme of the local teams of gram panchayat and revenue employees, door-todoor counselling, group meetings and night chaupals. They will urge people to construct toilets in their houses and motivate those who have one at home to use it,” he said.

The circle officers would submit weekly progress report to the DC and the SP.

“The main focus of engaging police personnel is to ensure monitoring and checking open defecation by creating public awareness,” the DC said.

Administration had also involved several other departments, including revenue and medical and health, in the past, he said. “Involving police does not mean that the personnel would be used for forcible implementation,” he added.

Gupta said that they have received complaints from rural areas about people who still defecate in the open despite having toilet at home or about people who have been creating hindrance in the ODF drive or not constructing toilets at their houses despite receiving funds for it.

“So police presence would, in a way, work as a deterrent for such people,” the DC added. “Similar initiative was taken in Udaipur a month ago after which Kota administration decided to rope in police for SBM.”

When asked whether the beat constables would penalize the offenders, the chief executive officer of Kota Zila Parishad, Jugal Kishore Meena, said, “Open defecation is a public nuisance and any public nuisance is punishable offence under Section 133 of CrPC.”

However, he made it clear that the beat constables would only focus on creating public awareness and recovery of fines would be done as the last resort.

There are total 155 gram panchayats in Kota of which 108 have been made ODF.

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