East Delhi has been declared “open defecation free” but the label hasn’t made defecation any less risky for girls from the JJ cluster at Khichripur block 1. They still have to answer nature’s call in the open, accompanied by other female family members for their safety.
The reason: In the last six months, a couple of girls were filmed in the act by anti-social elements who are often found around the bushes near a drain where the slum residents go to defecate. The families are afraid that their daughters would be harassed, or even assaulted, all because of the corporation’s negligence.
An 84-seater toilet complex is just a stone’s throw away. It was renovated eight months ago but is still not in use. That’s because the water motor is defunct, without which the complex has no water supply.
The caretaker of the complex, Rajendra, blamed the fall in the water table. “It has a dedicated boring but the motor fetches no water any more. It needs a new boring,” he said.
The complex is clean and well maintained with all the doors having locks and the premises are not encroached upon for parking of vehicles or stocking vegetables, as is the case in many complexes under the maintenance of civic bodies.
When it was renovated earlier this year, the idea was not to force thousands of people living in the slums to expose themselves to the danger of insects, anti-social elements and the risk of tripping on unpaved surface while going to the defecation field near the drain.
Aresident, Rajmani, paid a heavy price for the toilet complex being out of use. “I was going to relieve myself in the dark when I stepped on a pothole and fell, breaking my leg. I was bed-ridden for a couple of months,” said Rajmani Devi.
The women in the slums do not venture out to defecate in the dark unless they really have to. The unpaved road is the least of their worries. What they are terrified of are men who harass them while they answer nature’s call. “One day I was chased by a man when I was returning home,” said a 21-year old girl.
The last time anti-social element filmed a girl while defecating in the open, the residents called the police. “The cops thrashed one while others managed to escape. But the police released them later and after a couple of days they again returned to what they love doing,” said Pinki, a resident.
Throughout 2017, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation has constructed a number of toilets and renovated many others to stop people from defecating in the open. In some places the corporation even took the help of civic defence personnel to force people not to defecate in the open. All toilet complexes are free and the civic body declared East Delhi open defecation free in October.
“Many toilets have been constructed in places where they were not required. In this place, they renovated the toilet but forgot to give it a water connection. I have been running from pillar to post over the last six months for water to this toilet complex. No EDMC official bothered about the problem which has exposed our sisters to extreme level of anguish,” said Kuldeep Kumar, the AAP councillor from Kalyanpuri
The ODF initiative was aimed at changing the habits of people, but lack of infrastructure has reversed the problem in Kalyanpuri, says Kumar.
An EDMC official said that the issue will be addressed soon. “We are in the final phase of addressing the problem. All the processes have been completed,” said deputy commissioner (south Shahadra zone) Atik Ahmad.