Ending open Defecation to save Lives
Sixty per cent of the “global total” who does not have access to toilets live in India, and hence are forced to defecate in the open. This makes India number 1 country which practice open defecation.
About 13 percent of the population which uses open space for defecation resides in Delhi. More than 72 percent of rural people relieve themselves behind bushes, in fields or by roadsides.
One such slum is Jamuna khaddar, located in Okhla, Delhi. Around 1000 families are living in the cluster which earlier had a community toilet, but seven years ago, it was closed down by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. As a result, they have to go to fields for excretion.
Most of the people in the locality are labourers and rickshaw pullers from the small pockets of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
During Election time, the politicians had promised them to create toilets in the slum and now they are asked to leave the slum, as recently they received a notice that this place belongs to government and no more innovation will be done here.
Harsha Bhogal recalls about the difficulty one faces in night for defecation, when I was pregnant. “My hands and feet were swollen and sometimes I would feel dizzy. So I sit down somewhere take rest and then move to the fields.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has personally pushed the sanitation agenda and is committed to end the practice of open defecation. Having access to safe and clean toilets is a start, but it does not address long- standing habits.
He says, building toilets is a priority over temples. His administration is set to end open defecation in the 2019.
“It is mere promises which politicians make during the elections, they take our votes, but they do nothing for the betterment of our slum. We still go out in fields for defecation”, said Arun Kumar.
Poor sanitation gives rise to a number of health related problems like cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid which remains one of the top causes of child deaths in the country, alongside respiratory infections.
Most of our children play in the same fields where all other families relieve themselves. Disease-causing bacteria and parasites then end up on our children’s hands and feet, and eventually in their food and drink.
Another concern of slum ladies are the rapes and molestation that takes place when they go for open defecation that is secluded and private, especially during the night time.
Meena Raj, said, “I could only go to relieve myself twice a day – once in the morning at 3 am and once in the late night. Throughout the day I had to restrain myself”. She also added that the safety of women, we don’t need toilets and bathrooms just for defecation. We also have a much greater need for privacy and dignity when menstruating.
On the other side MCD blames these slum people only for not maintaining the cleanliness, “We try our best to provide them proper sanitation facility, our team goes to the slum every two days in a week to clean the garbage and other waste material, but these slum people abuses us and not allow to clean the waste”, said MCD official, Suresh, South Delhi.
To achieve its goal of eliminating open defecation by 2019, the Government must redirect sanitation policy towards promoting latrine use and start taking initiatives by creating health awareness programmes, where one can learn about the sanitation and hygiene, said Rupa, running NGO for slum people.-WTN
