At last there is some Swachhta on ground. Rajasthan becomes Open Defecation Free (ODF) to join the select league of ODF states which include Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh and Haryana. The feat is significant as the state has achieved the target of being ODF much earlier than 2nd October, 2019 – the deadline fixed by the Prime Minister for declaring the entire country ODF to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

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The Panchayat Raj department has also made large strides in e-governance initiatives. Rituraj Tiwari met Naveen Mahajan, Secretary, Panchayat Raj Department to know what special efforts department put in to achieve this feat.

Rajasthan has become ODF. What do you have to say on this achievement?

 

This is the combined effort of entire Swacchh Bharat Mission (SBM) team under the guidance of our chief minister Vasundhara Raje and minister Rajendra Rathore. In last three years we have constructed nearly 80 lakh toilets in individual rural households. The entire exercise was done under complete transparency. Each toilet was geo-tagged and payments have been done in an effective manner without any leakages.

Then sustainability is a big challenge for rural toilets. What do you say?

Yes, sustainability is a problem. But since we have completed our target one and a half years prior to the deadline. We have enough time to mobilise local communities to make them aware about maintaining toilets. We will use this time to fill the gap. We have given permission to panchayats to purchase machines used to clean toilets and they can also hire local people for the cleaning purposes. So, sustainability can come if such things fall in place.

Panchayati Raj system was started in Rajasthan in 1959 from Nagaur. What new initiatives have you brought in to modernise this age-old system?

The state has 9891 gram panchayats across 300 blocks. One major challenge is to provide leadership at panchayat and block level. We announced 1825 vacancies of BDO. We borrowed officers from other departments and posted them at each block. Similarly, we also recruitments 3600 gram sevaks  in record time about a year back. I am satisfied that there was no controversy related to this recruitment exercise. They are well qualified and IT savy. These young gram sevaks have brought much needed generational shift in Panchayati Raj system.

You are known for e-initiatives. Have you done any in this department?

There is one IT application we have adopted at grassroot level. This a transparent platform where public can see work allotment and the payments made to vendors against the work. This will also display names of officials involved in particular work along with their responsibilities. This will curtail all RTIs as there will be complete transparency in execution.