Anita Mishra, 41, has been a Mumbai resident since 1997—it’s the same year that she married and relocated from a village near Varanasi. After living in a rented home in Sion, her husband and two children shifted to the Kokari Agar Mhada Transit Camp, Wadala in 2005. Life progressed in a 10 by 12 ft kholi. Mishra worked as a junior artiste in films, while her husband found a job in an insurance agency; her children eventually chose their calling. But the year 2019 brought about a refreshing change—Mishra took the lead in forming the Mahila Ekta Seva Mandal, the community-based organisation, which signed a memorandum with the city’s municipal corporation for the construction of a toilet. As per the requirement of BMC’s Slum Sanitation Programme (SSP),  Mishra and other women of her F North vicinity would not just be the users of the toilet, they would also maintain it collaboratively.  Mishra would be taught the paperwork and organisation building by local NGOs and the BMC’s officer on special duty (OSD). A clean toilet maintained by women would contribute to the making of Swachh Bharat.

Mishra’s story, unfortunately, did not play out as scripted in the SSP, which largely leans on the framework provided by the World Bank. Since 2019, Mishra has been the harried caretaker of a block of 15 toilet seats used by thousand-odd dwellers. Each family unit pays R100 per month for the facility. From the first week, the pipes started choking. It was discovered soon that the contractor had not provided for any sewer outlet.  Mishra has since borrowed a sewage connection from another toilet block, so as to avoid blockage. She has written to the municipal corporator, MLA and MP for help.  She is still seeking assistance.  Meanwhile, she has had minor and major disagreements with neighbours over payment and toilet upkeep; the CCTV cameras installed in the toilet block were damaged a while ago. At one point, her family members were also ostracised. She was labelled the “bhayyani from UP,” who had taken it upon herself to model community participation.