Locals can have say on toilets

If you think the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is only concerned about major infrastructure in the city, then you are in for a pleasant surprise. The civic body is as much concerned about where the public may take a leak and what’s more, you can have your say.

Under its new policy for constructing ‘pay and use’ public toilets, the civic body has made it mandatory to take permission from residents from surrounding areas. The no objection certificate from the landowner is also necessary to construct toilets.

The BMC will seek suggestions and objections at the ward level for this for a period of one month. Depending on the public opinion, the toilets will be constructed across the city.

“Though there is a shortage of public toilets in the city, several attempts to construct toilets have to be left midway due to stiff opposition from local residents. These projects are not completed causing inconvenience to other people, mostly the floating population. Hence it has been decided to first seek public opinion on the public toilets project, in which efforts will be made to remove misunderstanding about these projects,” said a senior civic official.

According to civic officials, public toilets are constructed for the huge floating population at public places such as railway stations, bus depots, markets, religious places, among others, in the city. The new policy has stated that the public toilets should not be far away from major roads. It has also been made compulsory to display boards on roads giving information about public toilets. The BMC has made a provision of Rs 50 lakh in the annual budget to provide toilet facilities to senior citizens and disabled and also to leprosy patients.

As per the civic data, there are 1,035 public toilets in city.