Few benefit from Sauchalay scheme

Only a few from the state seem to have benefitted from the Ghar Ghar Sauchalay scheme under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan for which the BMC has been inviting applications from the public to construct toilets in their households.

The civic body has received about 6,667 applications from individual households, and has managed to go through 2,764 of them. After severe scrutiny, it has rejected over 170 applications and has approved 1,951 of them. The other applications are still undergoing scrutiny. Till June 24, it had constructed only 61 toilets and is in the process of constructing 40 others.

Speaking on this, a senior civic official said, “We are permitting the construction of these toilets and then paying the residents between Rs 7,000 and Rs 12,000 per construction. We are also setting up sewer lines connecting these toilets to the main sewer lines in the respective areas.”

Based on the approved applications, the R/North ward in Dahisar is set to get the maximum number of toilets (287), while N ward in Ghatkopar will get 240 new household toilets. The K/east and west wards in Andheri have received over 700 applications. No application has been received from the areas of Govandi and Chembur, which also house a considerable number of slums.

A civic official from the solid waste management department said, “We were expecting better response, as we had worked a lot for creating awareness. Even from the households which have applied for the scheme, we have had to reject many of them for lack of space inside the house, or for nonexistant sewer lines around the area they have marked for toilet construction.”

Commenting on this, a senior civic official said, “It is difficult to construct household toilets in slums, and even though we have rejected some applications, we will meet the demand in the area by constructing additional community toilets.”