Gurgaon is undergoing urbanization very rapidly, thanks to HUDA and private colonizers. This rapid and furious development involves massive construction work and consequently Gurgaon has been filled in my a large number of Bihari and Rajasthani laborers.

Realizing that these laborers need private accommodations, some of the Gurgaon land owners have found it a very lucrative business to earn money by constructing 50-100 barrack-type quarters in their plots. Such barracks can easily be spotted in Sector 12 and New Railway Road where two or more laborers share a small cubicle and each of them have to pay around Rs 200 to the landlord.

The landlords are indeed making good money but they hardly provide reasonable amenities to their poor tenants. For instance, there is no provision for toilets in these shacks and thus the tenants are forced to defecate in the open.

In any given morning, one can see 200-300 Biharis relieving themselves just behind the rows of houses 1-18 in Mianwali Colony. In spite of several appeal made to the administration against this degradation of environment and public nuisance, no action has so far been taken.

What Can be Done?

The administration should force the landlords to provide for toilets. If that seems too expansive for them, the landlords should be asked to build Safety Tanks/Sulabh-style Toilets so that the environment is saved off from the vicious disease producing pathogens.

Meantime some temporary solution should be searched to get away with the crisis. The laborers must be asked to go to Gurgaon Bus-Stand where they can use the two Sulabh Toilets. Considering their economic challenges, the money for daily commuting to the toilets should be adjusted in the rent.

In the end, I will only like to say that as of now there is no line of action. There is complete dormancy in the mind of officers regarding environmental awakening.