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On the eastern fringes of Mumbai, Sathe Nagar slum runs steadily across a few kilometres. With problems such as chronic malnutrition, inadequate sanitation facilities, and lack of clean drinking water plaguing the everyday life of its inhabitants, the area has some of the lowest human indices in the city.
For years, getting to school was a tedious task for the area’s 200 students. With their nearest school located across a huge drainage nullah, children, some as young as six, had no choice but to wade through knee-high sewage and slush to get there. They had the option of using an existing bridge some distance away to cross this gap, but the resulting journey would take them an hour, which they found cumbersome. So, they chose to paddle through human waste and muck, while flies swarmed around them.
“If we took a detour, we got late for school and we would be punished. And if we used this route, our legs would get infected. If a bridge is built, we will not have to walk through the sludge,” said 12-year-old Akhilesh Paswan.
Moved by the horrific conditions, 17-year-old Eshan Balbale came to the aid of these children and built a bamboo bridge across the fetid ravine. Last August, the teenager visited the area to get a better understanding of the problem that its residents faced. “They explained that crossing the nullah came with risks such as skin infections, malaria, dengue and other diseases. I felt terrible when I saw the children wade through the disgusting sludge,” he said.
While interacting with members of the community, he realised that most parents were reluctant to send their children to schools out of fear for infections. “I realised that building a concrete bridge would require permission from the BMC and that can be time consuming. So I chose to build the bridge with bamboo, which is light yet sturdy. The children needed the bridge immediately as the water level rises during the monsoon season,” he said.
“I plan to visit the site at least once a month. If the bridge is used responsibly, it should easily last for a couple of years. In the meantime, I will repair the bridge as and when the need arises,” he added.
The resulting four-foot wide and 100-foot long bamboo bridge came up in the slum in just eight days. Balbale is now working towards improving the sanitation conditions in the vicinity by providing the residents with 10 toilets in area. “The residents say that the BMC is reluctant to construct toilets, since there are illegal residents. But they are humans and deserve basic sanitation facilities like the rest of us,” he said.
While we laud Balbale’s initiative, we can’t help but be disappointed with the concerned authorities for having ignored the plight of the residents for years. While we talk about wanting to be considered on par with developed nations, our leaders often forget that this will only remain a dream if they continue to fail in providing adequate infrastructure for those that need it.
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