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No toilet, no work, Tamil Nadu village panchayat tells drought-hit farmers

Taking objection to the non-existent rule, a farmer from the Theethampatty village, C Subbiah, 70, has now moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court.

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Adding to the woes of drought-hit agricultural labourers, a village panchayat in Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu has denied work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to people who did not build toilets in their homes as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Taking objection to the non-existent rule, a farmer from the Theethampatty village, C Subbiah, 70, has now moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court. Acting on the petition, the Division Bench, headed by Justice A Selvam, on Friday issued a notice to the Tuticorin collector in this regard.

"I am an agricultural labourer and I don't have anybody to take care of me. Due to successive monsoon failure, there are no agricultural activities taking place in our village or in adjacent areas. So, I am entirely dependent on the wages provided under the MGNREGA scheme. Now, I have been left jobless with no other income," he said.

Almost 95 per cent of the people living in the Theethampatty village are engaged in MGNREGA and as many as 500 have job cards issued under the scheme. On February 13, the Theethampatty panchayat office assistant-cum-clerk orally declared that those who did not construct toilets under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan would not be provided work under the rural employment scheme, the petitioner said. The official had prepared a list of 200 such people, who he said were now ineligible for work.

Subbiah said under the Swachh Bharat scheme, Rs 12,000 was provided to construct a toilet at home. But it required at least Rs 40,000 and people already affected by drought were not in a position to construct toilets, the petition stated.

"Moreover, the grant of Rs 12,000 is provided only after the construction of the toilet. How can people with no jobs have money to construct a toilet? Over 100 houses in our village have only one room of 100 square feet each.

There is no space to construct a toilet. Our practical difficulties were not being taken into account by officials, who insist on toilets to provide work," S Ramar, another agricultural labourer from the village said.

Subbiah said the panchayat official's action was unwarranted and a violation of Article 21 (right to life) of the Indian Constitution, adding that the state government had extended the MGNREGA scheme by another 50 days to provide relief to drought-hit farmers.

Earlier, Subbiah and some other villagers had taken up the issue with the Block Development Officer of Kayathar and also sent representation to the District Collector on March 6. But no action was taken.

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