November 19, 2025: Dharavi continues to grapple with an extreme shortage of toilets, with a new Praja Foundation report revealing that more than 80 people are forced to use a single seat, far exceeding national sanitation norms. With public toilets locked at night and nearly 70% of residents dependent on ageing, unhygienic community facilities, millions face daily challenges to privacy, safety, and health—particularly women and adolescent girls.
World Toilet Day, observed globally on November 19 to promote hygiene and dignity, stands in sharp contrast to the lived reality inside Asia’s largest slum. In Dharavi’s narrow lanes, long queues at public toilets begin before dawn and continue late into the night. For many women, the closure of public toilets between midnight and 5 a.m. means restricting food and water intake to avoid nighttime visits, exposing them to both health risks and safety concerns.
Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) guidelines prescribe one toilet seat for every 35 men and 25 women in urban areas. But Praja Foundation’s findings show a stark deviation, with 86 men and 81 women sharing each seat, many of which have not been upgraded for decades. Over 10 lakh residents live in cramped hutments as small as one-sixth the size of a typical one-room kitchen, making private toilets almost impossible to accommodate.
Hope, however, lies in the ambitious Dharavi Redevelopment Project, which promises each eligible household a new home equipped with two private toilets, continuous water supply, and reliable electricity. This shift could be transformative. A UNICEF study notes that 93% of women feel safer with private toilets, and open-defecation-free environments can save families significant medical and time-related costs.
Nationally, sanitation indicators have improved since the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014, which has built 11 crore individual toilets and over 2.3 lakh community facilities. WHO-UNICEF data show India has reduced open defecation to 11% of the population—the world’s largest decline in a decade.
For Dharavi, redevelopment represents more than new infrastructure—it offers the possibility of long-denied dignity. Until then, World Toilet Day remains a reminder of the distance between global sanitation progress and Dharavi’s daily struggle.
