Chandigarh: 2,000 in a colony in my ward defecate in the open, says Cong councillor Chawla

“Under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, it is mandatory to stop open defecation in the city. More than 2,000 jhuggi- dwellers are residing in the Janta and Kumhar colony of my ward. As per rules, we need to provide them basic amenities like toilets which we are unable to do so. They have adopted open defecation method in the absence of toilets,” said Chawla.

Asserting that there was a similar situation in other colonies as well, Chawla said that around 30,000 people were still adopting the open defecation method as many colonies were without toilets. He said the MC had grossly underestimated the number of people with no access to toilets.

A survey in the end of November revealed that 2,159 males, 861 women and 674 kids went for open defecation.
Chawla said the MC had presented a wrong picture. “It is wrong that only 3,700 people defecate openly. At present, there are 30,000 people who defecate in the open. When 2,000 people are there in just one colony of my ward, there are thousands in other colonies.”

Joint Commissioner Rajiv Gupta said that as per a survey in 2011, around 6,000 people were going in for open defecation but after the construction of toilets, the number came down. He referred to executive engineer Gulshan for details on the number of public toilets in the city.

“Even though we have installed 40 temporary toilets in colony number 4 recently and around 300 in the past, people go out in the open. So a lot of awareness is required,” said Gulshan.

In the last year’s survey, Chandigarh was ranked number 21. This year, it jumped to number 2. The parameters for this survey were solid waste management, community and public toilets, and behavioural change.

Focusing on provision of toilets under the Swachh Bharat mission, Mayor Arun Sood has asked all the councillors to give their demands for toilets in their wards as soon as possible.