Mirzapur - Ahmedabad

Community Composition: The area is comprised of a majority of Muslim households (the rest being Hindu) and has been notorious for small communal rifts every now and then.

General Description: The residents of Mirzapur live in pucca houses that are connected to a drainage system, yet it is one of the worst areas we have witnessed when it comes to defecation, sanitation and hygiene.

Sanitation Situation: There are two community toilet blocks that we visited in Mirzapur. In the morning kids defecate right outside the toilet, and thus the entrance is dotted with mounds of feces. Kids sit amidst the feces while relieving themselves. Not too many carry any water, though a few of them were spotted with small polythene pouches. When we quizzed the local community as to why the kids had to resort to something like this, most of them said that the caretaker of the toilet doesn’t allow them to access the facilities, and asks them to pay money. There are sweepers who come around to clean up the feces left outside. They are quite well paid, according to a few of them we spoke to - many make from 6,000-10,000 rupees a month. Most of the cleaners don't have the most basic safety gear required while cleaning the feces strewn around the roads

Top Reasons to Choose This Location/Unique Aspects: - This was by far the worst location we saw in terms of sanitation and hygiene conditions. - This is one of the few non-homogenous communities we visited, which might provide some insights into how community interactions affect sanitation situations. - Working with Purshottam Bhai with the Dalit Sanghathan that works in the area of upliftment of manual scavengers, who has agreed to provide his support and involvement in any kind of pilot experiments we might want to do.- One of the women’s toilet booths was littered with heaps of soiled cloth used as sanitary napkins. One woman in the community lamented on the fact that the male caretaker has to clean it every week and that the women in the community have no sense of shame. - The cleaners sprinkle chlorine bleach on the periphery of the toilet block to get rid of the perpetual stench that envelopes the surroundings

- Also a riot prone area that, off late, has been on constant alert - definitely an interesting location from the point of view of community cohesiveness