For 33-year-old Sanjeeta Sahu, life in Maa Mangla Aadarsh Colony, Bhubaneshwar, has been a journey marked by challenges, resilience, and hope. She has lived here for the past 17 years with her husband, a driver, and their two children. When they first arrived, the settlement had no taps, no toilets, no roads, and no secure land rights. Basic survival depended on tanker water that came for just one or two hours a day. The entire community of 285 households would rush out with buckets and containers to collect enough water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning.

Until 2010, there were no household toilets in the colony. Women and girls were forced to use nearby fields for open defecation, often going in groups after dark for safety. This daily routine was filled with fear, discomfort, and humiliation—especially during menstruation.

Their small homes offered no privacy. Women managed menstruation using old cloth pieces and faced rigid taboos that prevented them from drying these cloths in the sunlight. Many menstruating women believed that their shadows should not fall on others, reinforcing silence, shame, and secrecy around periods. What should have been a natural process became a constant source of stress.

For Sanjeeta, the lack of sanitation was not just an inconvenience—it was a daily negotiation between dignity and survival. During her pregnancy, the absence of proper roads meant an ambulance could not reach her easily in an emergency.

Like many women in the colony, Sanjeeta balanced household work, caregiving, and informal labour without access to safe water or private toilets. Women and girls carried the heaviest burden of WASH deprivation, facing a double hardship because of both poverty and gender.

Real change began with the launch of Odisha’s JAGA Mission in 2017, one of the country’s most ambitious slum upgradation and land rights initiatives. While the community had started receiving individual household toilets by 2010, the JAGA Mission transformed their lives more deeply by recognising them as legal owners of their land.

Families received pattas (land titles), piped water connections, electricity, and paved roads. For the first time, residents felt secure—not just in their homes, but in their identity as rightful citizens of the city. The fear of eviction slowly gave way to a sense of belonging.

With better sanitation and infrastructure, life in Maa Mangla Aadarsh Colony took a new direction. Women could now use toilets safely inside their homes. Menstruation could be managed with dignity. Health risks reduced.

Schools began distributing sanitary pads, and awareness around menstrual hygiene slowly increased. Sanjeeta proudly shares that today, when her daughter goes to school, she does so with confidence—supported by facilities that Sanjeeta herself never had while growing up.

Despite these improvements, challenges remain. Waste dumping from nearby areas and hospitals continues to affect the colony’s environment. Social stigma has not disappeared entirely.

Yet the community remains hopeful and assertive. As Sanjeeta firmly says:
“We contribute to the city every day. All the services this city enjoys should be our right too.”

Sanjeeta’s story shows how gender-sensitive urban governance and inclusive WASH policies can transform lives. This journey is not only about building toilets or laying pipelines—it is about restoring dignity, safety, and voice to people who were long excluded.

The JAGA Mission stands out as a powerful example of participatory development—one that treats communities as partners, not beneficiaries. Sanjeeta’s experience reminds us that every woman and every child, regardless of where they live, deserves the right to live with dignity.

— Nisha Rani, Programme Coordinator, CREA