Naugachia: A new bride in Naugachia has given the government's cleanliness mission a shot in the arm by refusing to stay at her new house till it had a toilet.

Kanchan, a resident of Dova village in Purnea district, got married to Rudhal, son of Yogendra Mistry, last Wednesday. She left with her husband for her new home in Dolbazza, a remote panchayat across the Kosi river in Bhagalpur's Naugachia sub-division, the next day. On Friday morning, Kanchan - a matriculate - found there was no toilet at the house and every one defecated in the open.

Kanchan, 20, left her new home and was brought back only on the assurance on a toilet from the panchayat.

Binod Kumar, district coordinator of the Swachhata mission, said almost 60 per cent toilet construction in all households is complete in Naugachia. "We recently appointed four 'suraksha karmi' for each panchayat to convince the villagers to construct toilets at their houses and stop open defecation," he said.

October 2018 has been set as the target to make Naugachia open defecation-free.

Kanchan's demand would also be met, possibly sooner than October. A family member said: "Kanchan lost her cool when she was told about open defecation. She immediately decided to leave, no matter how much we tried to convince her."

As the news spread in the village, everyone worked on getting Kanchan back. Swachhata karmi Vikash Kumar Rajak informed Naugachia block development officer Rajiv Ranjan who in turn asked panchayat members to intervene. "We managed to stop her, assuring her that a toilet would be constructed at her in-laws' house in the next two days," Sanjay Rajak, one of the members, said.

Yogendra Mistry, Kanchan's father-in-law, said: "I didn't get Rs 12,000 from the panchayat to construct the toilet. But then the ward members told me the amount would be transferred to me once I construct the toilet. So, I would start the work soon."