Need more data on cities, says NGO

Pune: Data is critical to the success of the campaign to build toilets, feels Pratima Joshi, co-founder and executive director of Shelter Associates.
The NGO has geo-tagged households in over 300 slums across the city, where toilets are required. The organization has also built over 13,500 toilets across the state, most of it in Pimpri Chinchwad, where Joshi says that the coverage in slums has increased to 40%.
Joshi and her team have highlighted the need for data in a policy note shared with the Ministry of Urban Affairs. “What cities lack is data and especially data about the poor is abysmal,” she added.
She said that the carpet bombing approach will not work; what is needed is using data for targeted intervention.
Saying that the coverage has improved under Swachh Bharat, Joshi feels that for further improvement, places with a lack of toilets need to be mapped for overall feasibility at a unit level. She says the toilets must be connected to a drainage network to ensure people use them. Joshi and her team found that in Pune limits, 90% of the slum areas had connections to a drainage network. “The connection to drainage is important because that determines if the end use is happening or not,” Joshi observed.
She also said that providing one toilet per home is a better enabler for toilet usage among women, compared to community toilets. She said the pressure on community toilets has reduced as a consequence, and so has open-defecation as people don’t have to wait for their turn.