Ara: A ward councillor has alleged that Koelwar Nagar Panchayat has been declared open defecation free (ODF) without building toilets in every house.

A letter declaring the area as ODF was sent to the urban development department in July this year but Sunita Devi, councillor of Ward No. 14, mocked what she called the false claim of the executive officer of the Nagar Panchayat.

She said that only 20 toilets out of targeted 200 have been made in her ward so far and at least 180 lavatories of targeted 1,863 toilets have still not been made in Nagar Panchayat area. She also said that 1,025 beneficiaries were given Rs 12,000 each for construction of toilets while 838 beneficiaries have been given only the first instalment at the rate of Rs 7,500 per beneficiary.

About Rs. 1.86 crore has been spent on the construction of toilets while Rs. 37.71 lakh is to be given to 838 beneficiaries as second instalment.

Koelwar Nagar Panchayat executive officer Arun Safi, however, said mobile toilets have been purchased online through a government website for people living on railway land but the people refused to take them. He added that construction of toilets on railway land is illegal and grant for toilets cannot be given to them and hence the provision for mobile toilets.

Sunita alleged that the executive officer has transferred the amount for the construction of toilets in the bank account of 20 beneficiaries but now he is talking about mobile toilets. She demanded the construction of 180 toilets on the same land.

Chief councillor Binod Kumar also said that the Nagar Panchayat did not fulfil the criteria for declaring it as ODF.