A wedding in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi was called off as there was no toilet in the house, The Times of India reported on Thursday.
Trolley driver Nandlal of Shivdaspur Panchavati Nagar village said that his son Kalfu’s wedding was cancelled after the prospective bride’s family realised that there was no toilet. He said that his income was not sufficient to build a toilet. Though he had approached the village head and the government to build a toilet at his house, no one helped, he claimed.
Nandlal added that though the government had declared their village an open defecation free one, most people still use the open spaces. Block Development Officer Rakshita Singh claimed that Nandlal did not approach the government for a toilet,
District Public Relations Officer Anand Singh, however, said that the case will be investigated, and the government will soon construct a toilet for him. “On receiving the proposal from the gram sabha, the University block was declared Open Defecation Free,” said Singh. “Nandlal’s episode is serious and the case will be investigated.”
According to the government, 610 out of a total of 1,332 villages in Varanasi district, were declared free of open defecation as of October. But reports claim that the ground reality is different.
Eliminating open defecation is a part of the Centre’s Swachh Bharat Mission. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that his government would achieve the goal by the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in 2019.
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