Oulgaret Municipality commissioner MS Ramesh stunned residents in the area on Wednesday by falling at the feet of those who had failed to build a toilet in their homes.
The commissioner along with other officials had adopted this unique initiative, in an effort to highlight the need to curb open defecation in the municipality, reports ToI.
The team in charge of achieving the open defecation-free status for Oularget was reviewing the progress made, when they found that beneficiaries had failed to begin construction of toilets despite having received the first installment of Rs.10,000 each.
According to the report, the team gathered details of the defaulters and began the campaign. Team members led by Ramesh reportedly visited houses of defaulters in Lawspet and Goundaapalayam and fell at the feet of defaulters. They then tried to impress upon them, the need to build toilets in their homes.
“People were taken aback by our action. They admitted their fault in delaying the construction of toilets after receiving financial assistance and assured us they will begin construction immediately,” said Ramesh to ToI.
“We got a terrific response and hope that the municipality will achieve open-defecation-free status at the earliest,“ he added.
The money had been give to 952 houses within the municipality's limits, according to the report.
“We asked them to utilize the government subsidy and construct individual toilets. We released the first installment of subsidy of Rs.10,000 each. The subsidy was transferred to beneficiaries' bank accounts,“ Ramesh said to ToI.
However, only 234 families constructed individual toilets after they received the money. 470 other families who received the installment had reportedly not even begun construction of toilets.