CHENNAI: I had gone to Tiruvallur with a photojournalist on another story when I came to know that there was such an issue in a Dalit colony. Five years after all the blocks in the district were declared open-defecation free, around 80 Dalit families residing in Arunthathiyar colony at Jagirmangalam were still walking almost a kilometre to relieve themselves in open fields. Although all houses have structures for toilets built under the Swachh Bharat scheme, without a drainage system, they remain unusable.
This was even more cumbersome for menstruating and pregnant women. There were also no proper roads and safe drinking water. Following the report published in TNIE - An open defecation-free village without a single usable toilet - on November 9, local body officials inspected Arunthathiyar Colony, prepared a proposal and sent it to the government for construction of drainage pits.