Deputy Commissioner of Kalaburagi Yeshwanth Gurukar has assured that public toilets for women will be built in 15 days at Bhimalli village in the district.
The officer, who was in the village along with zilla panchayat Chief Executive Officer Dileesh Sasi as part of his village stay programme on Saturday, gave the assurance after receiving a number of requests concerning various issues including those related to public toilets.
He made it clear that the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department had stopped providing funds for building toilets and, hence, he would see that the toilets would be built utilising the corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds.
As the officers arrived in the village, they were offered a grand welcome by the villagers in a traditional way. They were taken in a horse-drawn carriage in a procession that was led by the village’s cultural teams and school children performing traditional art forms.
The entire village wore a festive look with people wearing colourful dresses and decorating their houses and public buildings. Mr. Gurukar and Mr. Sasi joined the cheering villagers and danced with them playing traditional drums for a few minutes. Responding to the appeal by Mr. Gurukar, villagers gifted him some books which he later donated to the village library.
The officers received a number of memorandums concerning various issues and the villages also demanded the officers curb the illegal sale of liquor in the village.
Responding to a demand for land for a burial ground, Mr. Gurukar issued an order on the spot sanctioning two acres for the purpose. On other demands, Mr. Gurukar said that he would address all of their issues one after the other and see what best could be done to meet fulfil them.
“The district administration is putting in place a mechanism to address people’s issues within 72 hours after they were registered. A toll-free helpline is coming up for the purpose,” he said.
As a remembrance of their visit to the village, both the officers planted a sapling at the premises of Gram Panchayat and poured some water. As part of the programme, a free health camp was organised and 75 people were screened and provided with free medicines.
Bhimalli Gram Panchayat president Geetha Ramachandra, Assistant Commissioner Mona Roat, Deputy Director of Land Records Shankar, District Health and Family Welfare Officer Sharanabasappa Ganajalkhed, Deputy Director of Public Instruction Ashok Bhajantri, and other officers were present.
