Bengaluru: In a decision, which has sent ripples in the state Panchayat Raj department, the Bagalkot Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer (CEO) has canceled the salary promotion of 79 Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs) who failed to achieve the target fixed by the ZP on building individual toilets in their respective Panchayats. This practice is now expected to be adopted by other ZPs too with many districts failing to eradicate Open Defecation even after the deadline of October 2.
According to the sources in the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR), these 79 PDOs were given the task of building 100 each individual toilets in their respective panchayats in 40 days time between September 1 and October 10. But as they failed to ensure these number of toilets, the ZP has decided to cancel their one year salary increment. These PDOs are from Badami, Bagalakote, Bilagi, Hunagunda, Mudhola and Jamakhandi taluks.
According to the sources in the RDPR, now the panchayat raj minister H K Patil has been flooded with representations from the PDOs against making them responsible for the delay in the toilet construction. “But they can’t run away from their responsibilities,” said a senior officer.
