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MP mason lauded for building ‘100 toilets’ now asked to prove it
A day after he received a pat from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for constructing “100 toilets without any labour charges”, Dilip Singh Malviya is now burdened with the job to prove whether he actually did what he was lauded for.
A day after he received a pat from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for constructing “100 toilets without any labour charges”, Dilip Singh Malviya is now burdened with the job to prove whether he actually did what he was lauded for.
Appreciating the mason in MP’s Sehore district for building “100 toilets” without taking any labour charges in his radio talk ‘Mann ki baat’, the PM seems to have kicked up a fresh controversy, with Congress leaders asking that if the village where the mason lived had only 53 households, how did the worker build a 100?
Congress spokesperson KK Mishra told HT that the village where Dilip Singh Malviya lived in Sehore was represented by a Congress MLA. “When our people in the area enquired about the claims, it was revealed that there were only 53 households in Bhojpura village. So how could Malviya have constructed 100 toilets? Besides, he is a poor construction worker who occasionally works as a mason. We also have information that he took money for his work. After our people talked to him, senior officials in the district administration told him to keep saying that he constructed 100 toilets,” he alleged.
Speaking to HT over the phone from Bhojpura village, Malviya said there must be 53 households in Bhojpura but that he had built toilets in the whole Mohanpur gram panchayat, under which Bhojpura falls. “Our gram panchayat Mohanpur has four villages — Bhojpura, Pataria Seedha, Pataria Baka and Mohanpur Lendi. Since July this year, I have been constructing toilets in most of these villages. I didn’t count exactly how many I built because I didn’t do it for any reward or money,” he said.
On the Congress’ allegations, Malviya said, “They should come to our area to get proof. People in our gram panchayat will give them a reply,” he said.
The Congress’ charges evoked sharp reaction from chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. In a series of tweets, Chouhan rubbished the allegations of Congress, calling it “utter frustration”. “Statements of opposition leaders on #MannKiBaat cannot be called healthy politics. High time they discharged duty in constructive manner,” he tweeted.
In another tweet, Chouhan said, “Initiative of PM @narendramodi to connect with people through #MannKiBaat has been a great success. Questioning its utility was unthinkable”, and, “Politicization of #MannKiBaat by opposition is another act of utter frustration to score political points against Govt. on flimsy grounds”.
Read: Modi applauds MP mason who built free of cost toilets for village
