You are more than likely to miss the narrow entrance to this slum, flanked as it is by the Sri Balaji theatre, the sprawling quarters of the Defence Colony and the high compound walls of a government school.
She leaves the children at home when she goes to work. “By the time I return, they would have defecated right here. People around scream at us for the filth, but what do I do?”
Of the 5,000 or so families in Shastrinagar and Rajendranagar slums located near the National Games Village in Koramangala, only 25 per cent have individual toilet rack. “But they are of no use as the sanitary lines are always clogged. Only some who have illegally connected lines to the adjoining open storm water drain are lucky,” Amruthraj of the local Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Youth Welfare Association points out.
L. Vimala, Fareeda, Sultana, Puspha and R. Kamalamma are embarrassed to use open areas for their daily ablutions. “But we have no other go. Though the authorities have promised us individual toilets, that is still a distant dream. Why should we pay and use the dirty community toilet?” Sultana says.
All these women have a makeshift bathroom(a space outside the house covered with old mats or plastic sheets on four sides) with no outlet for the water to drain out.
