New Delhi: As many as 66 children from a slum cluster in the Indian national capital have gone missing in the past 15 years. They all had gone to answer the call of nature as their shanties had no lavatories.
They were among 171 children who went missing in the forest near Shahbad Dairy, a slum in outer Delhi barely 15 km from the corridors the Indian parliament. Five children, four of them under 10, were killed; 28 girls raped and another 17 sexually abused.
Saksham, an NGO, arrived at the disturbing figures by analyzing Right to Information replies for missing children of the slum between December 2013 and March 2015.
The 500 families at Shahbad Dairy has no toilet, forcing the residents to rush to nearby forest where criminal prowl, reports The Hindustan Times.
Overcome by fear, residents have stopped feeding their children after sunset — an ineffective attempt to prevent nature from calling at night. “We have no choice but to ask our kids not to eat after evening. We have seen cases where children did not return after going to the forest to relieve themselves,” said 45-year-old Raj Kumari, a resident of Shahbad Dairy.
“We are always tense whenever they go to that area. It is difficult even for us as there have been cases of women being dragged into the forest.”
Middle-aged Sarita, who has been living in the slum since 1986, vouched that the area was crime-free until a year ago.
“My daughter-in-law doesn’t go there alone now … she was harassed by men a few months ago. My grandchildren are underweight but at least they are with us. We don’t feed them for their safety,” she said.
Women too skip their dinner. At times, men guard women and children in the woods.
“Our husbands cannot be with us all the time to protect us. There is no toilet in the 2 km area and despite requesting authorities, we don’t see any hope. We have complained to police but they react only after a crime is committed. There is no sense of security at all,” said Khushboo, a slum resident.
NGOs alleged a hands-off policy when they approached authorities, including the legislator and councilor for the area, to build community latrines for these families. The attitude goes against the government’s mission to build toilets and make India “open defecation-free,” a multi-billion-rupees effort to stamp out the unhealthy practice of people relieving themselves in the open.
“It is shocking that children go to sleep hungry not because of lack of food but because of lack of toilets. This can lead to long-term health problems,” said Soha Moitra, the regional director of CRY, an NGO for children.
According to Sakhsham, at least 45 percent women and children either do not eat or take less food after evening. Malnutrition has crept in as a fallout; and many children are underweight.
Moitra requested the state government to act, saying children’s health and safety were compromised by a lack of basic infrastructure. “Shahbad Dairy is a perfect example of how communities, particularly children, suffer because of government apathy.”
The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board, which manages public lavatories in the national capital, said the area would get have a toilet. It didn’t say when. Until then, Shahbad Dairy will have to make-do with crime-riddled forest.