Page 31 - 31OCT2019E

HYgiene

that read that they will be given either claim. Though an unprecedented num- by the Ministry of Housing and Urban
permanent lands or houses of their own. ber of toilets have been built across the Affairs in Rajya Sabha. The figures are
“The final announcement will be de- country, the nation is far from being far from the actual requirement for the
clared in the upcoming two months. Fir completely open defecation-free. capital.
to ghar ke saath sabko apna latrine bhi Talking about India’s capital state Del- Though the Delhi government has
mil jayega (Then we will have our own hi, the sanitation and cleanliness remain been building significant number of
latrine with the housing). Otherwise, no the worrying issues in areas such as the community toilets, the cites the reason
vote,” says Ali while sipping his tea sitting slums and unplanned colonies. The Delhi of unprecedented population rise as the
on his charpaya (knitted wooden bed). chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal had set a reason for missing its target. Delhi has
Even Surender is clear who to vote target of making Delhi Open Defecation- some of the biggest slums in the coun-
and why. “The party that will provide Free (ODF) by March 31, 2018, however, try and maintaining cleanliness and
us permanent lands, houses, latrine that target couldn’t be met. sanitation is a colossal task according to
for women and electricity will get our The Delhi government was rapped by the government here. Almost about 40
support.” CAG, when in April 2018 it tabled a report percent of Delhi’s slum population con-
This is the new dream that politicians in the state assembly claiming that the tinue to defecate in the open, according
of Delhi are selling off to the slum-dwell- AAP government had not constructed to reports.
ers. With the Assembly election round
the corner, parties are promising per- Public toilets
manent lands and toilets to woo these The Arvind Kejriwal-led At present, there are 22,000 public toilets
small-time farmers living in jhuggis across Delhi (including toilets in slums
across the city. Thousands of homeless government and jhuggis) which are monitored under
voters scattered across Delhi are bereft had promised to build Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board
of their basic rights to live with dignity (DUSIB), says Anil Kumar Gupta, Member
that includes access to sanitation and two lakh toilets in expert, DUSIB
clean toilets. Delhi once they come Gupta agrees that Delhi is far behind
The Modi government had launched from becoming ODF and points out
the ambitious Swachh Bharat Mission into power. Fast forward two reasons for their failure to reach
on October 2, 2014, to improve the con- the target: “One, overpopulation. Illegal
ditions of sanitation in the country. On to 2019, the situation occupancy by people is growing invari-
October 2 this year, the Prime Minister on the ground ably on vacant lands across Delhi-NCR
declared that the stated aim of 100 per- which cannot be overlooked. There are
cent open defecation-free India had been doesn’t look that good over 5,000 small-time farmers living
achieved. even today illegally on the floodplains of Yamuna
“I am satisfied that on the occasion of Khadar, out of which about 50% are Del-
Gandhi at 150, we are witnessing the ful- hi voters. There you won’t find a single
filment of his dream of ‘Swachh Bharat’. a single toilet under the Swachh Bharat toilet and everyone defecates in the
I feel lucky that on this occasion, when Scheme since its inception in October 2, open. The other reason is the lack of
India has successfully stopped open 2014. education on sanitation, which the AAP
defecation, I’m here at the ashram,” the The Arvind Kejriwal-led government Government is working on. We are try-
statement by Prime Minister’s recorded had promised to build two lakh toilets ing our best to make the Capital ODF.
in the visitor’s book at Sabarmati Ash- in Delhi once they come into power. The AAP Government is making toilets free
ram read. He said the world had been report stated that state government had for public use.”
impressed by India’s success on open not given the much ambitious scheme In 2016, ActionAid Association had
defecation-free front, and were giving much importance. Fast forward to 2019, conducted a survey of 229 public toilets
awards to the country. the situation on the ground doesn’t look in Delhi and found that 71 per cent of
“In 60 months, 600 million people that good even today. them were not cleaned regularly. Two of
have been given access to toilets, more A question asked on 20 December, three surveyed toilets did not have sepa-
than 110 million toilets have been built. 2018 in Rajya Sabha to the Ministry of rate provision for women, and majority
The whole world is amazed to hear this,” Human Resource Development on the of those that existed did not have a flush,
he said. number of school toilets constructed un- running water or the facility to wash
However, the claim by the Prime Min- der Swachh Bharat: Swachh Vidyalaya hands.
ister is being widely refuted by the organ- for Delhi state revealed the figure to be Talking to Tehelka, Tanveer Kazi, Re-
isations and individuals across the coun- zero. The number of public/community gional Manager, ActionAid Association
try. The facts on the ground don’t support toilets built by the Delhi government up North India Regional Office, says, “In the
the 100 percent open defecation-free to November 2018 is 19202, as revealed context of Delhi city, both community

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