No toilets means no pay for 600 employees

Jammu, April 21

Sending out a strong message against open defecation, salaries of around 600 government employees in Kishtwar district have been stopped for not having toilets at their houses, an official said.

Angrez Singh Rana, district development commissioner, Kishtwar, passed the order on Friday following a report submitted by Anil Kumar Chandail, assistant commissioner (development), regarding non-availability of toilets in the households of 616 state employees of the Padder block, he said.

Jammu and Kashmir has achieved a target of 71.95 per cent with respect to the construction of individual household latrines and verification and geo-tagging of units under the Swachh Bharat Mission. Kishtwar has registered 57.23 per cent success in this regard. Leh and Kargil districts in Ladakh, Shopian in south Kashmir and Srinagar have been declared open defecation free (ODF), while Anantnag and Pulwama are likely to achieve the ODF status by the end of April.

After receiving Chandail’s report, the Kishtwar district development commissioner took serious note of the matter.

“It is shameful and depicts the government in a bad picture... Being a government employee, our behaviour and way of living should serve as an example for others to follow,” the official said. —PTI