Toilet - Ek Prema Katha: A real-life replay in Jagdishpur village

Gorakhpur (UP), July 16

In a real-life replay of Bhumi Pednekar-starrer “Toilet – Ek Prem Katha”, half a dozen women from a village in the neighbouring Kushinagar district have left their husbands’ homes because of no toilets there.

The incidents occurred in the Jagdishpur village under Padrauna block in Kushinagar district, where over six women left their in-laws’ places for their parents’ homes, said officials.

The village is located in a low-lying area and suffers from heavy water logging during the rainy season, greatly inconveniencing the women without toilet facilities in their homes, they said.

Taking cognisance of the incidents, the authorities, however, have already arranged for the construction of a public toilet in the village, they added.

Asked about the incidents, Kushinagar’s Chief Development Officer Anand Kumar said, “The issue of women leaving homes due to toilets in Jagdishpur village has come to our cognisance after the district panchayti raj officer (DPRO) visited the village and met the families not having toilets.”          

“Toilets have already been constructed for those whose names were there in the government list. Toilets are being arranged also for the families not having the facility. The construction of a public toilet has already started in the village,” the officer said.

DPRO Raghvendra Dwivedi had visited the village earlier on Thursday to inspect the construction of the toilet in the village.

The village head, Ram Naresh Yadav, also said toilets were not constructed in some houses as their owners’ names were not there in the list.

All the women who left their respective in-laws’ places due to the lack of toilet facility were married within the last two years.

As per villagers, they had demanded toilet constructions before or soon after their marriages, a condition which was not met in many cases.

Due to heavy rains this year, they were facing problems in going out of their houses, so they left their husbands’ homes, they added.

The story of the film, Toilet – Ek Prema Katha, too was related to a village in Gorakhpur district.

The film was a satirical comedy in support of the governmental campaigns to improve sanitation conditions in India, with an emphasis on the eradication of open defecation, especially in rural areas. PTI