Madikeri: Twelve gram panchayats in Kodagu district are likely to get the coveted `Nirmala Gram Puraskar', an award conferred by the President for implementing the Total Sanitation Project (TSP) in the district.

The panchayats in Somwarpet taluk are Nanjarayapatna, Sunticoppa, Nellihudikeri, Kusbur and Kedakkal. In Madikeri taluk, the panchayats are Karugunda, Kaggodlu, Kadagadal, Ballamavati, Makkandur, Kalakeri-Nidugane and Maragodu.

The Government of India, in a recent communication to the State, had asked the Chief Executive Officer of the zilla panchayat to furnish all details pertaining to the 12 gram panchayats, including the names of the presidents, addresses and contact telephone numbers. A letter in this regard was sent to the CEO of the Kodagu ZP from the Karnataka Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Board a few days ago.

Villages in the gram panchayats have to meet several criteria to bag the award. The most important of them is prevention of defecation in open areas. Every household and anganwadi centre in the village should have toilets. Wastewater from the bathroom and kitchen must be diverted to the water ingression tank and garbage must be shifted to the bin located outside the village. In other words, every house in a village, its roads and surroundings, must be kept clean. Apart from the villages in the gram panchayats, non-governmental organisations and volunteers too are eligible for cash awards from the President.

Cash awards would range from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 4 lakh for a gram panchayat, Rs. 20,000 for a voluntary organisation or an NGO and Rs. 10,000 for individuals.

Kodagu Zilla Panchayat CEO K. Sundar Naik said evaluation of the panchayats chosen for the award was done on four occasions — two times each by the Central team and by the State Government team. The teams expressed satisfaction over the progress in TSP implementation, Mr. Naik said. Opinions from households, individuals, elected representatives of the panchayats, were obtained as well, he said.

The president of the Kalakeri-Nidugane Gram Panchayat in Madikeri taluk, M.D. Bopanna, told The Hindu that toilets were constructed in all 600 houses in the four villages coming under his panchayat. Roads had been done up and drains maintained well. Plastic wastes were being burnt and bio-degradable wastes buried.

He said he had received intimation from official sources on Wednesday that his panchayat had won Rs. 2 lakh in award.

He would utilise the money for building a community hall at Nandimotte near the Kalakeri-Nidugane gram panchayat office, he said.

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