The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Eight months on, toilets remain unusable

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 16, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Eight months on, toilets remain unusable

K. Manikandan

Rs.2.25 lakh facility in Nallambakkam has no water, power

TAMBARAM: Nallambakkam village, about 15 km from here, is an example of how welfare schemes executed with the taxpayers' money don't actually benefit those for whom they are meant. The integrated sanitary complex in the village is a good example.

Constructed eight months ago at a cost of Rs. 2.25 lakh from the general funds of the Kattankulathur Panchayat Union, of which Nallambakkam panchayat is a part, the complex remains unused since then. It is part of a scheme aimed at improving sanitation in rural areas, where people do not have access to proper toilets and lack bathing facilities.

Officials, however, say work is under way to provide water and electricity connections and the complex will soon become functional.

Dalit residents of the village complain about the poor roads. But for a few stretches that have cement-topped and bitumen-topped roads, the rest are unmotorable. In several places, the work remains incomplete.

No approach road

R. Parameshwaran, ward member, pointing to the pathway leading to the burial ground earmarked for Dalits, says they have been demanding a proper approach road for the last 25 years.

At present, they use a narrow path between fields to take the bodies. The problem worsens during the rains, when they have to wade through waist-deep water.

Another demand is transparency in the day-to-day affairs of the panchayat and shifting the village administrative officer's premises inside the village.

At present, the VAO's office is on Vandalur-Kelambakkam Main Road and remains inaccessible to villagers.

Mr. Parameshwaran says they have taken their grievances to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Tribes.

In February 2005, the commission wrote to the Kancheepuram district administration to take appropriate action to lay a pathway to the burial ground and construct toilets in the area.

It also urged the administration to ensure that the VAO functioned from within the village, from a building allotted for this purpose at Ambedkar Nagar.

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