Delhi University students wage war against open defecation

New Delhi: With an aim to prevent open defecation and to sensitise slum dwellers in the national capital on healthy sanitary practices, a group of Delhi University students have initiated a campaign that has brought down open defecation rates in some slums from 95 per cent to 3 per cent in one year.

The Enactus team of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (SSCBS) has brought down the open defecation rate in the slums of Sultanpuri and Kirti Nagar with the help of innovative measures under ‘Project Raahat.’ The project, launched last year, has received a grant of Rs 5 lakh from the DU Innovation Project.

While following a three-point action plan in order to reduce open defecation, the team made the toilet complex attractive by creating wall art and using Bollywood dialogues by pop culture icons like Amitabh Bachchan on the walls. Also, one can see Gabbar Singh saying, ‘Basanti, khule mein na jaa’ (Basanti, don’t defecate in the open) on one of the walls. Next, the team grew vertical gardens where they planted saplings in half-cut plastic bottles filled with soil and hung them on the side of the toilet building. “This encourages people not to vandalise the complex while contributing towards the maintenance of toilet complex,” said team member, Aanisha.

SSCBS Enactus conducted several assessment surveys in different slums where they found that people had unclean toilets or no toilets at all and chose to defecate in open grounds or near railway lines.

“In collaboration with the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), we got four toilet complexes in Sultanpuri and Kirti Nagar slums,” Aanisha added.

In December 2016, the students also ran a series of camps where they realised that people avoided using government toilet complexes as they were charged with a rupee per person each time they used it. As a solution, Enactus SSCBS introduced a pass system where a family of three pays only Rs 100 per month to use the toilet facilities any time.

“Various rates have been fixed depending on the number of family members and the facilities are free for senior, physically challenged, and children below 10 years of age. The passes, which contain a family photograph, names of family members, and their local address, is required to be shown to the caretaker,” another team member said.