A couple of months ago, a second-year computer science student, Devi (name changed), turned sick. She suffered an insect bite. Her father P. Shanmugam, a daily wager, borrowed Rs. 20,000 to meet the 10-day hospital expenses. He is yet to repay the loan, and the girl is yet to recover fully.Devi suffered the insect bite when she went out at night to attend nature’s call. Her neighbours in the Dalit Colony in Kendaiyur in Ward 24 of Mettupalayam Municipality too have suffered but none as bad as Devi.

They, however, remained as vulnerable as she was, said K. Vanitha, a resident.

Insect bite was just one of the many problems the residents, particularly the women, faced when they went out to attend nature’s call. The residents of the colony had been defecating in the open for over two generations for want of toilets.

During emergencies, a few affordable residents took their two-wheelers to the Mettupalayam bus stand to use the pay-and-use toilet. This had been the practice for over four decades now, said K. Bhadran, the community leader. They had petitioned the elected representatives, municipal officials, Revenue Department officials, and the District Collector too, in vain.

S. Nagarajan, councillor, said that in the last 20 years, he and wife Usha Rani (a former councillor) took efforts to construct toilets but had to stop it because of legal hurdles. The absence of land delayed the construction of a public toilet. A public convenience facility was available a few yards away from their habitation, in Thekkampatty panchayat limits. The panchayat had constructed the toilet complex at a cost of Rs. 2.50 lakh in 2007-08 for the residents of Ramegounden Pudur. The Dalits at Kendaiyur, however, did not use it.

“We are denied access to it because caste Hindus of the village objected to it,” said Mr. Bhadran.A community toilet exclusively for their use is the solution. How about individual household toilets that the Swachh Bharat mission talks about?

“When the entire house measures around 100 or 150 sq ft where is the question of toilet,” Mr. Bhadran asked.

Officials, however, denied the caste angle to the problem. They insisted that absence of land was the reason. Mettupalayam Municipal Chairman D. Satheesh Kumar said that on two occasions, the toilet construction project came to a naught as a few people opposed the project. The municipality was ready to fund them under the Swachh Bharat mission, he said.

The civic body had identified a piece of land measuring around two cents in a crematorium to construct the toilets. The municipality would construct it at a cost of Rs. 10 lakh after the Municipal Council gave its approval, he added.

‘A public convenience facility is available a few yards away from their habitation, but caste Hindus object to Dalits using it’