Women residents of Sanjay Gandhi Nagar finally get to use a functional toilet
Hyderabad: Women residents of Sanjay Gandhi Nagar, Naubat Pahad were in a celebratory mood on Tuesday, enjoying their independence from shame and discomfort and securing their right to relieve themselves in privacy, decades after the country achieved freedom.
Deccan Chronicle had reported on June 28 (Hyd not open defecation free: Scores of women have no toilet) that the women of the area did not have a functional public toilet and had to wait till the dark to ease themselves out in the open, in plain sight of other residents. This was their situation for decades, a short distance from the Assembly and the gleaming new Secretariat.
The GHMC commissioner had sent a rejoinder denying the report but Deccan Chronicle stood by its report.
On July 7, the Telangana High Court took up the Deccan Chronicle report as a suo motu public interest litigation. A two-judge PIL bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N. Tukaramji asked the state government to respond to the report after Justice T. Vinod Kumar had took it to the attention of the bench.
The officials finally moved to connect the toilets, that were built in the area but kept locked because they were not linked to sewage lines. On Tuesday, the GHMC opened the functional toilets to women.
Pranavi Parambagullu, a resident who recently completed her Masters in Business Management, said, “Indeed it’s a day of celebrations. With 15 days after the matter was published in Deccan Chronicle, things have moved so fast. I extend my gratitude to the High Court for considering our plight. Women of this colony will be able to use a toilet after many decades,” she said.
Vinoda, who was in great distress when she narrated the plight of the women who were forced to defecate in the open, was all smiles on Tuesday. Political leaders P. Chidambaram, Marri Shashidar Reddy, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy and many promenamt personalities had taken up the issue.
Metara Ratnaiah said, “Lights have been fixed to the toilets, water is now being pumped into the tank. The authorities said they will fix soon fix a pump to provide for permanent water supply.”
The local corporator, some GHMC authorities and residents were present when the toilets were formally inaugurated.
