The Municipal Corporation of Delhi is developing the city’s first integrated facility centre for residents of a slum settlement at Ekta Camp in R K Puram, combining toilets, bathing facilities, laundry services and filtered drinking water under one roof. The pilot project is expected to cost ₹2.5 crore and could be followed by around 20 more centres across different municipal zones if it succeeds.
MCD officials said the project has been inspired by community sanitation centres in Mumbai and is being developed as a pilot in South Delhi. The proposed centre will cover about 160 square metres and is intended to provide basic services at subsidised rates to residents who may not have adequate sanitation, washing or drinking-water facilities inside their homes.
The centre is planned to include 46 toilets, four showers, eight washing machines and a water ATM supplying reverse-osmosis-filtered water. The reported user charges are ₹3 for using a toilet, ₹70 for one laundry cycle and ₹1 per litre for drinking water.
Hindustan Unilever Limited will work with MCD and the central government under its corporate social responsibility programme to complete the facility within three months, according to the officials cited in the report. The arrangement places the project within a public-private partnership model in which municipal authorities provide the civic framework while corporate social responsibility funding supports construction and facilities.
MCD officials said the centre will also include a sewage treatment plant so that used water can be treated for reuse. Rainwater harvesting and solar-energy systems are planned as part of the project. Officials will monitor the centre every four hours to maintain cleanliness and assess how residents use the services.
The pilot is being developed against the backdrop of existing community toilets in Delhi’s informal settlements, many of which have faced maintenance and cleanliness problems, according to the report. The project is intended to test whether a single, managed facility can provide more reliable access to several basic services than standalone community toilets.
The proposed centre also raises practical questions that will be assessed during the pilot, including whether the subsidised charges remain affordable, whether the facilities can be kept clean at the stated monitoring frequency and whether the water-reuse and solar systems operate consistently. MCD officials said residents’ response will help determine whether similar centres are built in other zones.
The first centre is scheduled to be completed within three months at Ekta Camp, after which MCD will evaluate the pilot before deciding on the proposed expansion to approximately 20 additional locations.
