Making Delhi free of open defecation: DUSIB proposes mobile toilets at 165 locations in capital

“While we were preparing our plan to make Delhi free of open defecation, we conducted surveys across JJ clusters in the city. While there was a need for more toilets in certain places, there was no place to construct them in congested slums. That is when we thought of using the cycle-rickshaw mounted toilet model that we had tested at 30 night shelters last winter,” said a senior DUSIB official.

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The mobile toilets are made of high-density polyethylene and weigh 20 kg. Each unit will also include a hand-wash basin. “Each unit will be good for about 70 to 80 uses. Certain chemicals used to treat the waste will remove odour. After use, the waste can be discharged into the nearest manhole,” said an official.

Officials said setting up these toilets will not be an expensive affair as there will be no cost of construction or laying sewage pipelines. “Every area will not have the cycle-rickshaw mounted units. In some places, the toilets will be placed on the ground. A van will suck out the waste and replenish the water. So far, only one manufacturer has come forward with the design. If we go ahead with the proposal and issue tenders, maybe more may come forward,” said an official.

Last year, the DUSIB had prepared a slum-free city action plan (SFCAP) for the implementation of the Centre’s Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY). It reworked the plan after the Centre scrapped RAY and replaced it with the housing-for-all scheme. However, based on the surveys conducted prior to the SFCAP, the DUSIB stated that 22 per cent of the population in Delhi’s slums did not have access to a toilet.

The SFCAP showed that members of 56,980 households in the city’s slums still defecated in the open. A DUSIB official said, “Earlier, the ratio for building new toilets was 1:50. Under the new plan, the ratio is one toilet per 30 people.”

He added that the board still has to address some issues. “For example, there is a slum in Jakhira area near Kirti Nagar. It is surrounded by railway lines on three sides. We can neither construct new toilets there nor can we station our mobile toilets. We will have to come up with something more innovative to address this problem,” said the official.