50 converge at roundtable conference on sanitation

A day after the World Toilet Day, about 50 people, including corporates, NGOs and civic officials, attended a roundtable conference on sanitation organised by Habitat for Humanity at the Indian Merchant Chambers on Thursday. The conference was organised to discuss the challenges and opportunities for sanitation in India.

The attendees discussed the need for sanitation in India and how they could work towards changing the lives of 70% of the population that defecates in the open.

Officer on special duty of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Seema Redkar spoke about community preparedness for sanitation, the importance of toilets and how the poorest of the poor are willing to pay for it.

Habitat for Humanity's CEO Deepak Vishwanathan spoke on how sanitation is an important part of shelter solution in India, while Rajiv Jalota, additional municipal commissioner, talked about the current scenario of sanitation units in urban spaces. Jalota also discussed the challenges involved in providing sanitation in the congested urban slums and spaces of Mumbai.

As part of a drive, BMC has planned to survey 1,035 toilets across the 24 administrative wards. Of these, 476 are in island city (Sion to Colaba, Mahim to Colaba), while 306 and 253 blocks, which will be covered by the survey, are in the eastern and western suburbs, respectively.