Bhopal, June 22 -- When Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014, it was hailed as a national effort to end open defecation and restore dignity through sanitation. By 2019, India was officially declared open defecation free (ODF). But in Bhopal, the reality on the ground tells a different story.
Across the city's rapidly expanding outskirts, construction labourers are still forced to defecate in the open. These migrant workers are involved in building metro corridors, government offices, residential colonies and shopping complexes. Yet many live and work without access to toilets, clean water or basic bathing facilities.
According to the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC), it is the responsibility of builder...