Bhopal: Reality check! Toilet in every home still a far cry

Bhopal: Reality check! Toilet in every home still a far cry

Staff ReporterUpdated: Thursday, May 30, 2019, 04:03 AM IST
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Bhopal: It was a reality check for the Bhopal Municipal Corporation, which patted its back when the open defecation free (ODF) tag was awarded by the Central government, as much to its embarrassment the reality of the success of Swachh Bharat campaign in the city was exposed before none other than BJP national president. Amit Shah’s ‘lunch at tribal house’ on Sunday ended up in a controversy as the house lacked a toilet. The revelation raised question mark over the open defecation free status of the state capital and created doubts over its second ranking in Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

As the incident exposed the tall claims of Corporation, Free Press conducted a survey to get a first-hand feel of ‘success’ of the campaign to eliminate open defecation When we visited the slums in the city, most of the people complained that since there were no toilets, they have no option but to go in open to relieve themselves. Leave alone the slums located in far flung areas, the ones which are located near Vallabh Bhawan too are devoid of this basic facility.

Bheem Nagar and Vallabh Nagar are two major slums areas located near the secretariat. These slums have over 7000 houses and surprisingly over 2000 are sans toilet. Not far away from here lies Rajeev Nagar Basti, where the residents are forced to defecate in open. Looking into the reasons for the lack of toilet facilities in this area, what came to fore was the apathy of administration and negligence of the contractors.

Khemchand Chaurasia, a resident of Bheem Nagar said that the municipal employees contacted them a few months back and we submitted all required documents for constructing toilet in our homes. However, we are yet to receive any response from them as they never turned up and we are still forced to go and relieve in open.

Another resident Shatrughan Singh said that they have been living here for a long time and still they are going in nearby areas to attend to natural calls.

Rukhsar Khatoon, who also lives in the area, said that “it was very embarrassing to go in open for defecation but we have no other option.”

Similar views were shared by Shubham Rajbhar who lives with his sister in the area.

A resident of Vallabh Nagar Shalik Ram said that there were toilets in some houses but a number of them lack it and so the people are still going in open to defecate.

We then moved to Rajeev Nagar where the residents had similar complaints. This ward comes under leader of opposition in BMC Mohammad Sageer.

Pawan Bansor, who lives in the ward said, “That we don’t like to go in open for attending natural calls but we have no other option.”

Manoj Dholpure, another resident of the area came up with same complaint.

On visiting Baba Nagar area, its resident Kesar said that the civic employees had come for toilet survey. They randomly constructed toilets and left our houses, he added.

Her neighbour, Anjali Wagh also shared her pain as her family is also forced to go in open to attends nature’s call. Banganga basti, a well-known slum near the new market also has over 100 such houses which are awaiting the toilet facility as promised by the administration.

Suneel Patil, who lives in the colony, said that his family members go for defecation out of house as they don’t have a toilet. Another resident of the basti Meera Bai, Pushpa Vahane, Chandani Bi and others had no different story to tell. Who wishes to go out to attend nature’s calls but what can we do, they asked. In fact, there is hardly any slum area in the city where all the houses own a toilet. Now the question arises as where did they spend the hefty budget of toilet construction issued in the recent years.

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