Bangalore: Nirmal Gram Puraskar Given to Mangalore, Sullia Taluks

From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Aug 18: Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj presented the Nirmal Gram Puraskar national awards to the Presidents of Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayat and the Mangalore and Sullia taluk panchayats and also 103 Gram Panchayats in the State in Bangalore on Saturday.

Deputy Chief Minister K S Eshwarappa, who is also the minister in charge of the Revenue as well as Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Departments, participated in the programme for conferring the awards to rural local bodies for achieving total sanitation under the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) of the Centre.

Presenting the awards to presidents of local bodies for the year 2011, the Governor said the implementation of the programme was slow due to allocation of meagre funds for construction of latrines.

The Governor urged the Government to steps to ban the carrying of night soil by members of particular community in rural parts of the State.

Among the zilla panchayats, Dakshina Kannada recorded cent per cent coverage in construction of latrines in all households and schools, and anganwadi centres. Mangalore and Sullia taluks have also recorded 100 per cent coverage.

Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayat president K T Shailaja Bhat received the award from the Governor and thanked the officials of the district for successful implementation of the scheme.

Earlier, Eshwarappa said the subsidy amount for construction of individual household latrines (IHHLs) has been increased from Rs 3,700 to Rs 9,200 from this financial year under the TSC.

Out of the total Rs 9,200 subsidy for each IIHLs, the Centre and State Government would provide subsidy of Rs 3,200 and Rs 1,500, respectively, while the Rs 4500 would be provided under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by providing 26 days of manual labour.

The below poverty line (BPL) criteria has also been removed to avail the subsidy. Nearly 90 per cent of the households of the State could avail the subsidy, the Minister said.

The coverage was 100 per cent in 1069 gram panchayats and six taluks, including Mangalore and Sullia, the Minister told reporter after reviewing the implantation of the TSC in the State.

To ensure cent per cent coverage of the scheme, the Centre has increased the subsidy under the programme and expanded the programme for 10 more years (till 2022).

Even though TSC was launched on October 2, 2005, over 30 lakh households have not been covered by IHHLs in the State. The IIHLs covered 41.97 lakh households (70%) in the State so far. As many as 42,036 government schools and 28,207 anganawadi centres have been covered under the programme.

Congress MLA Roshan Baig, former minister, and RDPR Principal Secretary Sanjeev Kumar and Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan Director M Deepa were present.