Slum dwellers in Whitefield forced to defecate in the open

Lack of toilets compel the Pattandur Agarahara slum dwellers to defecate in the open.

Bangalore, November 21, 2017: Pattandur Agarahara slum is situated beside the Pattandur Agarahara Lake in Whitefield. The people in the slum neither have water for daily use nor toilets.

Add to that, the people have to walk a long distance to answer nature’s call as the slum is spread out on both sides of the road.

Bangalore currently ranks at 38 out of 75 cities in India in open defecation, and around 13.5 per cent of the slums do not have toilet facilities.

Lakshmamma, a slum dweller, said that this situation has been prevalent for almost 10 years, and hence the people living in the slum are used to it. She further said that women suffer the most.

Vijaykumar, a slum dweller, said the BBMP doesn’t get it cleaned on a regular basis. He added, “The stench of the garbage is bad, and we have to clear the garbage since the BBMP does not come around our area.”

A report by Bengaluru Zilla Panchayat says that slum dwellers in slums around Yelahanka A K colony, Shivapura and LBS Nagar practice open defecation due to lack of toilets in their areas.

Officials from the Karnataka Slum Development Board (KSDB) have said that toilets have been built in slums around the city and are planning on expanding the project to other slums.

But the slum is situated on a lake bed, also known as a Tank Bed and the law says no developmental activities can take place on the land.

Anirban Chaudhury, an urban planner said that in order to eradicate the situation the municipal corporation of the area must take charge of the situation and come up with solutions in order to curb of the problem of open defecation in slum areas.

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