Open Defecation-free Delhi still a distant dream

Even though it is the Capital of the country, Delhi is still woefully short of toilets. Based on reports there is one  toilet available for 30 citizens of Delhi and there are still 254 open defecation spots present in the city.

If you think that there will be no dearth of toilet facilities in the VIP areas of New Delhi and by now it would have become free of this problem, think again.

In C -31 slum area in Kalibari, you will still witness people occasionally defecating and urinating openly on the footpaths.

A visit to the area can make you feel the stench of human excreta and urine.

Even though there are 350-400 slum areas in the city possessing a population of more than 1000 residents, there are only 14 community toilets for men and women.

Till Monday, some of the toilets for men in the area were getting renovated by the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and were out of bounds.

Most of the residents due to the shortage of the space have not built toilets in their homes and are dependent on the community toilets.

Ironically the slum area which is in vicinity to the residential flats for the Government officials is not only few kilometres away from the Parliament but also the Valmiki Basti where Prime Minister Narender Modi kicked off the campaign of Swachh Bharat Abhyan.

“There is shortage of toilets in the area and this causes some of the most people in the area to relive themselves in the open when there is shortage of space, “said Pyarey Lal supposedly the Pradhan of the slum area.

“Though things may have improved a lot over the years, there is still more which needs to be done, “added Lal.