PITHORAGARH: In a shocking case, a village in Champawat district allegedly diverted funds allotted to the village panchayat for development work to build a hut to confine menstruating women. After getting to know of the matter, DM (Champawat) Ranveer Singh Chauhan has ordered closure of the one-room hut and initiated an inquiry into the matter.The matter came to light after Ramesh Chandra Joshi, a resident of Ghurchum village in Champawat, filed a complaint with the district magistrate on Monday that a hut built in their village using government funds was being used to keep menstruating women in an isolated space. The village has a population of 450 people, half of them women. The ‘period hut’ for women was set up in 2017.Talking to TOI on Tuesday, the Champawat DM said, “There is no provision for setting up such an establishment using funds allotted to village panchayats. I have ordered the SDM and the district panchayati raj officer (DPRO) to find out how funds meant for developmental works were rerouted.”The DM added, “It is appalling that people still consider menstruation taboo. This is due to lack of awareness. We will run an awareness campaign to end this inhuman practice.”Mukesh Joshi, gram pradhan, Ghurchum, admitted that the one-room hut was built with Rs 2 lakh from the funds allotted to the village panchayat by the 14th finance commission. But he claimed that it was a ‘jan milan kendra’ (public meeting centre) and claimed that “no woman had ever taken shelter there”.“These are lies being spread by my political opponents. The hut is actually a public meeting point and a proposal for it was passed by the gram panchayat . Last year, the district development officer and the block development officer had conducted an inquiry following similar complaints but gave us a clean chit,” Joshi said.In many places in the hills, social exclusion of menstruating women still remains a grave reality. TOI had earlier reported that young girls from six villages in Munakot block in Pithoragarh were forced to skip school when on their period as several temples fall along the way to the institution. Local residents said that the temples would be desecrated if women on their period were to pass the area.

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