Sheer irony: Slum dwellers near WHO building live in hellish conditions

Even as the government is trying to make the whole country open-defecation free through its flagship programme Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Anna Nagar, in the heart of the national Capital, with lack of basic civic amenities has become the dark spot on the programme with open-defecation being a common practice here.

Anna Nagar, with more than 1000 shanties, is situated near IP Metro station and World Health Organisation (WHO) building. The area lacks basic amenities like toilets and regular garbage collection service. There is only one public toilet for the area which is inadequate to meet the needs of the place. Consequently, residents go across the rail track near the slum to attend nature’s call.

“Locals go to relieve themselves across the railway track in the bushes. It is not that we like to go in open but lack of toilets force us to go. Although there is a community toilet at the far end of the slum, who would want to go that far? We live in small huts so constructing toilets is not an option,” said Aakash, a local resident.

“I fear leaving my shack in the night to go attend nature’s call. It is very dangerous. Luckily, no untoward incidents have occurred to women in this area. But I have heard that men hide in the thickets around the area where women go,” said Laxmi, another local resident.

The waste generated in Anna Nagar is dumped into the two drains which forms the eastern and western boundaries of the slum. The fringes of the area are all covered in garbage and with the onset of monsoon the garbage has turned into sludge, making it difficult to negotiate the path around the slum. “This collected garbage has been a big issue for us. In spite of regular request to Municipal 

Corporation no response has come,” said Rahana, a local resident. “Unfortunately, there is no sewer system in the area and wastes go into the nalah. Provisioning of basic services like sewer lines and water supply in jhuggies and jhopris is the responsibility of Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) which is under Delhi government,” said Farhat Suri, the Leader of Opposition in South Delhi Municipal Corporation. 

According to UNICEF, nearly half of India’s population, that is, 595 million people, defecate in the open and this practice is the main reason for 1,88,000 diarrheal deaths of children every year. Health experts also say that frequent episodes of diarrhoea make children vulnerable to malnutrition, stunting, and pneumonia.

Meanwhile, The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) in ‘Delhi Slums Open Defecation-free Plan, 2016-17’ had proposed to construct 19000 new toilets and to deploy mobile toilets at various slum areas of Delhi. A pilot project for mobile toilets has already started.