With no swachh toilets, Chandni Chowk market lets women down

NEW DELHI: As India marks three years of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, visitors, especially women, to Chandni Chowk, one of Delhi’s biggest markets, still do not have access to clean public restrooms.

The market caters heavily to a female customer base, and is popular with wedding shoppers, jewellery buyers and spice lovers.

The combined average daily footfall in August at Chandni Chowk, Chawri Bazar, Lal Quila and Jama Masjid metro stations was over a lakh, according to DMRC. But the area lacks a hygienic facility for women. The public restrooms HT visited were almost unusable.

One of the bigger ones is on HC Sen Marg, but the unbearable stench and vessels cut out of old oil containers provided for washing make it next to impossible to use. At the other end, near Jama Masjid police station, the toilet is essentially a single faeces-stained room with a hole in the floor.

Only passengers have access to the restrooms at Chawri Bazaar, Lal Quila, and Jama Masjid metro stations. At Chandni Chowk station, people can use the Sulabh toilets without a ticket, but many complain of unclean conditions here too.

AREA LACKS A CLEAN AND HYGIENIC FACILITY FOR WOMEN, AND THE FEW RESTROOMS HAVE UNBEARABLE STENCH Image source: Google We can’t achieve the target (clean India) even if 1,000 Gandhis, 1 lakh Modis come together. All

125 crore countrymen will have to unite.