It's 2025, and Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 is supposedly transforming urban sanitation. But on the ground, the reality is disturbingly different.

In Delhi, I saw a man waist-deep in a sewage-filled nallah, manually cleaning it without safety gear, right beside a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). That drain was meant to be treated there before flowing into the Yamuna. Instead, black, untreated water flowed straight into the river.

Manual scavenging is illegal. Yet, in the heart of the capital, it thrives openly. If Delhi, with its resources and visibility, fails to enforce basic laws, what does that say for the rest of India?

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), tasked with sanitation, appears either absent or indifferent. Despite promises under Swachh Bharat 2.0- mechanised cleaning, safe working conditions, cleaner rivers; what we have is cosmetic change: painted walls, staged cleanups, and no accountability.

This isn't just about broken infrastructure. It's about broken promises. Every underperforming/ idle STP and every exploited sanitation worker is a reminder that our policies rarely touch the ground.

Delhi must lead with action, not optics. Let's ensure every treatment plant works, every drain is mechanised, and no human being is forced to clean waste with their bare hands.