Central team to visit DK to inspect total cleanliness drive

 Speaking to Deccan Herald, he said “Dakshina Kannada was the only district in the State to apply for the Total Sanitation District Award. The Gram Panchayats have to show better performance when the inspection team arrives from Delhi. Even if one gram panchayat fails, we will lose the award.”

He said one member from the team has already arrived at DK district on Monday. He will work out on ways to assess the gram panchayats. The team will divide the Gram panchayats on population wise and then inspect the progress.

Dakshina Kannada district has 203 gram panchayats. Of which, 182 Gram Panchayats have already received Niramala Grama Puraskar awards. This year, 21 Gram Panchayats have applied for the award. Of which 14 Gram Panchayats are in Sullia taluk.

The team will randomly inspect the progress of the district. However, the GPs which have applied for the awards will be inspected. The team will also inspect the Gram Panchayats which have already won Nirmala Grama Puraskar awards. As per the guidelines, if the Gram Panchayats who have won the Nirmala Grama Puraskar award fails to keep up the spirit of the drive, the award will be taken back. However, in case of loopholes, the team might ask us to set it right,” Shivashankar added.

Under “Nirmala Grama Puraskar,” a village will be given a cash award of Rs 2 lakh if the population of the village is below 5,000 and Rs 4 lakh if the population is above 5,000.
Only Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada district has been declared as a taluk free from open defecation. In other four taluks, one or two Gram Panchayats are yet to fulfill the target, he added.