SC, ST families told to get individual household toilets constructed

Social Welfare Minister A. Narayanaswamy on Friday asked Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) families across the State to get individual household toilets constructed under the Total Sanitation Campaign or the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. He said they would be denied the statutory benefits they were enjoying if they failed to comply with this direction.

Awareness would be created among such families on the importance of maintaining hygiene, he said.

The Minister told presspersons here that each SC/ST family gets Rs. 2,500 for constructing individual household toilet. They could also avail of Rs. 3,750 under the Total Sanitation Campaign. If they need more funds, the Social Welfare Department would make up the difference, he said.

He said the authorities had been instructed to ensure that there were no open soak pits. Mr. Narayanaswamy said over 50 per cent of the town panchayats and city municipal councils in the State had been provided with suction machine to clean soak pits. There was no dearth of funds for procuring more such machines.

The Minister said many pregnant women belonging to SC/ST families in Bagalkot, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Koppal and Raichur districts were found be suffering from anaemia. The Women and Child Development Department would supply them nutritious food under the Special Component Programme.

As many as 6,000 Devadasis would be provided houses constructed by the Rajiv Gandhi Housing Corporation, Mr. Narayanaswamy added.