Show a toilet at home to get a driving licence!

VT, Nov 16, 2005

B D Narayankar

Bangalore: Possessing valid driving licence and other documents relating to road-use alone may not prevent you from being hauled up by the traffic police. T o get off their hook, you may have to produce a certificate of having a toilet at home. Funny? Why a ’certificate of having toilet at home’ for a vehicleuser , you may wonder . But yes, that may become part of road rules, if what the State government is contemplating materialises. In its bid to spread sanitation awareness among people and propagate the need for toilet facility in each house, the government has deemed it fit to make possession of toilet certificate obligatory . And what better way to begin this campaign than with the o wners of vehicles? In the case of new vehicles, the owners could be asked to produce the toilet-certificate along with other documents for registration at the R T offices. RDPR Minister Basavaraj Horatti told Vijay T imes that he had already discussed the proposal with Law Minister H K P atil and Advocate-General and explored whether a legislation to the effect could be enacted in the next session itself. The idea was mooted keeping in view particularly villages where even the rich, lavishing money on luxuries, did not feel it necessary to have toilet at home. A piece of legislation of this kind would go a long way in improving sanitary conditions in rural areas, he said and cited how most of the villagers, especially in north Karnataka, shamelessly defecated in the open. "The affluent have scooters, tractors, refrigerators, VCRs, TV sets and what not. But no toilet," he said. The government had, hence, thought of making toilet-certificate compulsory , to be issued by the respective gram panchayats, before registering their vehicles. "The move has legal implications. But there is no alternative to taking such a bold step ," Horatti said. He said the government had been providing an incentive of Rs 500 to the families belo w poverty line for construction of toilets. It had also planned to revive an earlier proposal to make toilet facility at home mandatory for those contesting panchayat elections, he said. The idea was mooted keeping in view particularly villages where even the rich, lavishing money on luxuries, did not feel it necessary to have toilet at home. A piece of legislation of this kind would go a long way in improving sanitary conditions in rural areas