Hyderabad: Of the 1,476 slums in GHMC, only five per cent have individual toilets while the rest of them depend on community toilets. The private patta land allocated by the government to build toilets have been sold. The time frame for low-cost sanitation programme for the urban poor, that collected Rs 550 from slums dwellers, has lapsed.
Families living in Vengal Rao Nagar slum area, Secunderabad had deposited Rs 550 towards individual toilets under the Low-Cost Sanitation Programme for Urban Poor during the Congress rule in undivided Andhra Pradesh.
Each toilet (individual) costs Rs 3850 of which the government was to pay three installments. The first installment at the time of starting the construction, 25 per cent during the construction, and the balance 25 per cent after completion.
There were technical issues like lack of space in the slums for individual toilets. In the 1,476 slums in GHMC area, a small percentage of the slum dwellers are willing to construct individual toilets however, with the TS government in power the sanitation programme has become dormant.
