Kakkoos-A-Kaanom: Search for toilets in open defecation-free city

“Kakkoos-A-Kaanom was aimed at meeting and collecting suggestions from representatives of women from underprivileged backgrounds for whom this is a grievance,” says S Meenakshi, joint secretary of Dhagam. 

An earlier campaign they held reached out to the public, asking for pictures of damaged/ unusable public restrooms across the city along with the ward/ zone number and Google location. “The campaign has another month to go and we have nearly 160-plus reports submitted by the public, as well as reports from field workers and volunteers,” she adds. 

Expressing disbelief over the plans to declare Chennai as ‘open defecation-free’, the group is mulling submitting evidence to debunk the claim. The Aval team is also planning a rally on International Women’s Day on March 8. “What is the point in celebrating the occasion when women in the city can’t even find a toilet to relieve themselves?” The outcome of the event raised many questions and answers, the team adds. 

“Before we work on reclaiming toilet in city, first we want the bus terminals and railway stations to have functional ones. Next, those are operational need proper water facilities and maintenance to ensure they don’t get clogged/shut down later. Then, kids from rural/underprivileged backgrounds in schools, colleges need to have a psychological mindset that open defecation is wrong – for this, the educational institutes need to have clean bathrooms,” Meenakshi concludes.