News

TOI : PUNE: Having a toilet at home is still considered unhygienic in rural areas, leading to defecation in fields and open spaces.

The political class too is not above such practice in villages. And what better way to spread the message of hygiene than making it compulsory for a candidate to have a toilet at his residence?

The state government is planning a legislation to disqualify candidates from contesting any elections if they don’t have toilet facilities in their residences.

Celebrating the International Year of Sanitation 2008, a theme promoted by the United Nations (UN) general assembly, the state government will put in all efforts to abolish open defecation in the state.

In an effort to strengthen the sanitation campaign, chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has taken keen interest to bring in a law banning candidates from contesting elections if they don’t have toilet facilities in their homes, Mallinath Kalshetti, state co-ordinator of the total sanitation campaign, said on Thursday.

“Deshmukh, while speaking to sanitation campaign activists in Pandharpur recently, assured that he would put in all efforts to bring in such a law,” he said.

The chief minister, who was in Pandharpur for Ashadhi Ekadashi, said the government was keen to enact a law which would make it compulsory for politicians to construct a toilet for their family.

Candidates will have to submit a certificate from the local authority, confirming the same, before filing nomination papers for contesting any polls, Kalshetti quoted Deshmukh as saying.

Kalshetti added that this initiative will help give momentum to rural sanitation efforts. “People imitate leaders and, especially in rural areas, this law would be more effective as even the rich there feel that constructing toilets is a waste of money,” he said. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More