Govt cuts power in UP village without toilets

Lucknow: In a bizarre development, the electricity in hundreds of households in Sarojini Nagar and Mohanlalganj blocks of Lucknow district was snapped because the people had not built toilets in their houses.

The villagers said they sought more time to build the toilets form the block development officers but  they refused to listen to their request and snapped the power. Sarojini Nagar BDO Ajay Pratap said the power supply would be resumed once people start cooperating.

Earlier, in Hamirpur district,  the administration warned the villagers through wall writing on panchyat bhawans that if they did not build toilets and stop open defecation , they could lose their pension, gas connection, face suspension of electricity supply, rations cards and MNREGA job cards.

The warnings have been issued on behalf of the gram panchayat  in villages Mihuna and Sheikhupura of Sumerpur and Kurara blocks of district Hamirpur, respectively.

Swachch Bharat Mission director Vijay Anand initially denied any such punitive move. He said, “At the village-level, there are political rivalries where defeated pradhans spread such tales about the winning pradhans to defame them.”

However, when confronted with photographs of wall-writings, he assured to get it probed.

The mission director also assured to get the Lucknow disconnections probed.

Meanwhile, Panchayat Raj principal secretary Chanchal Kumar Tiwari denied giving any such orders.

He said that he would get the matter probed.

However, Devendra Gandhi, who works with Samarth Foundation in Banda, said that while travelling through Hamirpur for work last week, he came across at least 10 villages where such warning was painted on the panchayat bhawans.

“It is unlikely that writings at such a large scale would be done without any order from ‘above’,” he alleged.