Belagavi: Amid objections from the councillors, a resolution to declare Belagavi city as “open defecation free” was passed by the Belagavi City Corporation on March 23. This sudden development has raised eyebrows as many people in Belagavi still defecate in the open due to lack of access to public toilets.
In the general meeting of the Council held on March 23, Corporation Health Officer Shashidhar Nadagouda proposed the idea to declare Belagavi as open defecation free. The councillors from both the ruling and opposition questioned the move and inquired about the grounds on which the subject was brought before the floor.
Councillor Deepak Jamakhandi demanded for information on the number of public and community toilets, and individual ones that have been constructed in the city. Other councillors criticised the lack of maintenance of public toilets. City Councillors Kiran Sainak, Vinayak Gunjatkar, Raju Birje, Renu Mutagekar asked the council to pay the toilet construction cost in a single installment to the beneficiaries.
In reply to the queries, Nadagouda said that Belagavi city had 31 community and 10 public toilets. He also said that a total of 2716 applications had been received for constructing individual toilets since 2015. “Out of these, 2022 individual toilets were approved and 1516 constructed till date. The remaining applications are still under process. Tenders are being floated for building 21 public toilets under Swacch Bharat mission”, he said.
Following the discussion, Mayor Basappa Chikkaldinni passed the resolution without reviewing the merit in the objections raised.
