New Delhi ( CNN ) -- Every morning at the crack of dawn , residents of a New Delhi slum gather by the railway tracks to do what most would only do in private -- go to the toilet . One by one , they arrive with water bottles in hand . Some try to hide , while others are less coy . Many seem unfazed by the trains that rumble past , blaring their horns , warning people to move off the tracks . This has been shop owner Mukhesh 's morning routine for the past 40 years . `` I guess I do get embarrassed but what can I do ? '' Mukhesh asked with a shy grin . India 's vast railways system , which carries some 11 million passengers a day , is often called the lifeline of India . But one government official has dubbed it something else . `` The Indian railway is really the world 's biggest open toilet , '' said Jairam Ramesh , Minister of Rural Development , at a recent bio-lavatory launch . `` Nearly 60 % of the people in the world who defecate in the open belong to India , we should be ashamed of this , '' he said . Kalaiselvi , 24 , was embarrassed to talk about it . In search of a better life , she left her village in southern India and moved to New Delhi a year ago . Little did she know she 'd be struggling to find the most basic of facilities in the country 's capital . 'Not a single toilet here , '' she said . `` I really feel very ashamed , men and women ( go ) nearby , it 's really difficult conditions . '' She said she only goes before sunrise at 4 a.m. and then after sunset at 7 or 8 p.m . Both Mukhesh and Kalaiselvi live in a settlement colony with 3,000 people , just minutes away from New Delhi 's Commonwealth Games Stadium and a major five-star hotel . The neighborhood is typical of most Indian slums , small , one-room houses crammed with all the trimmings of modernity -- satellite television , refrigerators and air coolers -- but not a single household has a toilet . According to the World Health Organization , open areas are the only toilet option for an estimated 625 million Indians . A recent government census showed nearly half of India 's households do not have a toilet , but more people own a mobile phone -- 53.2 % of Indians have a mobile phone compared to 46.9 % with lavatories . Kalaiselvi could n't build a toilet even if she wanted to ; there are no sewage drainage lines at her area . `` Out of 7,935 towns in India , only 162 have sewage treatment plants , '' said Bindeshwar Pathak , founder of Sulabh International -- an NGO working to provide low-cost environmentally friendly toilets to India 's poor for more than 40 years . Now Pathak has an innovative and simple solution that has helped transform the lives of millions of Indians . It 's called the Sulabh Shauchalya , or Sulabh toilet , and it 's based on a two-pit system . Both pits are attached to one latrine , but when one pit is being used , the other does the composting . No concrete is used and the soil naturally turns waste into fertilizer over time . It can be set up for as little as US $ 15 and it also only requires one liter of water to flush , while normal septic tank latrines require some seven to 10 liters of water . Sulabh International has built some 1.2 million household toilets and 8,000 public toilets across India . Pathak says the Indian government has made 50 million toilets based on the two-pit design . He 's also taken the technology to 14 other countries in Africa . In a village in the Mewat district of Haryana , just under 62 miles ( 100km ) from New Delhi , Sulabh has built a two-pit toilet in every household . `` Before we used to go to the jungles and we used to get bitten by mosquitoes and flies and get sick . Since the toilets arrived , everything has changed , it 's much cleaner and a lot better , said Shakuntala , a local resident . It 's something the villagers of Mewat take pride in -- they keep their toilets clean and say they feel like they have finally progressed . `` Mobiles phones are very useful , but with a toilet I feel we have more dignity . I only have one mobile phone but I have two toilets now , '' Shakuntala said proudly .
World Health Organization : Open areas the only toilet option for millions in India . Most Indian slum housing lacks basic facilities such as toilets . Comment: