Gurugram: Open defecation issue persists despite Swachh status

Even exactly two years after receiving the open defecation-free (ODF) status under the Centre’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), the practice continues to be prevalent

Even exactly two years after receiving the open defecation-free (ODF) status under the Centre’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), the practice continues to be prevalent in Gurugram, persisting largely in informal housing settlements located within the heart of the city.

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Some affected areas are Prem Nagar, in Sector 12’s Jacobpura neighbourhood, Bhim Nagar in Sector 6, Kanhai village near Sushant Lok-1, Sikanderpur Ghosi village, which is a short distance from Cyber City, and Chakkarpur village, near Golf Course Road, among others, according to residents. Open defecation is also evident in areas such as Dundahera, which borders Delhi, and near transport hubs, such as Rajiv Chowk and Subhash Chowk.

This is despite the fact that the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has constructed at least 6,500 individual household toilets and 120 community toilets in the city over the last four years. To be declared ODF, according to SBM guidelines, all households with space to construct a toilet should have constructed one, all occupants in households which do not have space for a toilet should have access to one within 500 metres, and commercial areas should have public toilets within a one-kilometre radius.

Soniya Duhan, former SBM programme coordinator for Gurugram, said, “There is need for more education and innovative outreach, so that we can create a behavioural shift in people. For example, in one of the outreach efforts we did with an NGO, a person would hand out red roses to people who were defecating in the open. It’s a way to highlight their action and even make them feel slightly guilty about it. We have done many such activities in the hope of promoting better sanitation practices.”

In addition to such awareness drives, the MCG has also been steadfast in construction of new toilets. In December 2018, when the city was granted ODF+ status — indicating that not only has it eradicated open defecation, but also has the capacity to keep the practice at bay — about 5,000 toilets had been built.

“Since then, the number has increased to 6,500,” said joint commissioner and current head of the MCG’s Swachh Bharat team, Inderjit Kularia, adding that there has been a decline in incidents of open defecation. “We have also made private toilets, such as those at petrol pumps, more visible through prominent signage,” Duhan added.

Duhan and Kularia said that it is difficult to enumerate the impact, given the lack of dedicated follow-up surveys in the city.

Residents, on the other hand, said that the impact has not been significant. Raj Kumar Yadav, a resident of Dundahera, said, “The sanitation in slums along the Delhi border is poor. They are densely populated and there are not enough public toilets to cater to everyone. Choked drains and open sewers also end up creating an unhygienic situation.”

Manohar Pant, a resident of Sector 55, said, “Every morning, you can see people defecating in the bushes along the Gurgaon-Faridabad Road, just beyond Ghata village. If there has been a decline, why can’t we see the difference?”

Nazar Khalid, a research fellow with the Research Institute for Compassionate Economics, said, “The SBM is the first time that a government in India has decided to tackle the problem so openly. It’s a positive scheme that has had an effect on reducing open defecation, but not much, primarily because it focuses on building toilets and not their use.”

Khalid elaborating further, said that for instance, the SBM does not take into account how a person’s class and caste location in society is linked with the act of defecation. “Even when toilets are built, we’ve seen in our research across multiple states that people from marginalised communities do not use them. This could happen for a variety of reasons, including that they simply aren’t used to it. To break that conditioning, which is a result of deprivation, is not easy and will require more time than just four years under the SBM,” he said.

Additionally, tackling open defecation in a city such as Gurugram is also a logistical challenge, given that the population is exponentially increasing. “In a city of lakhs of people, building just 5,000 or 6,000-odd toilets is not going to help,” Khalid said.

Moreover, the main criterion for a city to be declared ODF is the number of toilets constructed, and not whether the construction is able to affect change. “It’s like grabbing onto the lowest rung and saying you’ve climbed the ladder,” said Khalid.