City’s costliest toilet will be free for next 3 mnts

Mumbai: In a relief for the common man, the newly inaugurated air-conditioned toilet at Marine Drive will be free-of-cost, at least for the first two months. The Briha-nmumbai Municipal Cor-poration (BMC) has decided to offer services at no charge in the initial phase following inauguration of the toilet on Monday.

“The toilet will be free-of-cost for people for the first two months. Depending upon the financial viability, we will decide later whether to keep it cost-free taking into account its maintenance cost. We are also planning to keep the toilet open 24/7 by checking the possibility with various agencies,” said Kiran Dighavkar, ass-istant municipal commissioner, A-ward.

While inaugurating the toilet, Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray, who mo-oted the concept of toilet malls or multi-storeyed toilets, considering the sc-arcity of space in the city, said, “There is a need for toilet complexes to be constructed in the city due to lack of space. It will go a long way in keeping the city clean and hygienic.”

The toilet has five seats, of which, two will be res-erved for women. It has been built with weathering steel, which will prevent corrosion. A vacuum technology has been used, which will save water. “Every flush will use only 0.8 litres of water compa-red to seven to eight litres used in a traditional toilet,” said Akshat Gupta, co-founder of Samatech. The toilet, considered the cost-liest one in the city, has be-en built under the Cor-porate Social Responsibil-ity (CSR) initiative by JSW Group and Samatech.