‘Pvt firm didn’t show interest in maintaining toilets’

New Delhi: Tenders floated by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) for corporate firms to become partners in sanitation work by taking up maintenance of public toilets had not got any response.

“We wanted to use the public-private-partnership model for the maintenance, so we had invited the sector. The tenders were floated a few months ago, but sadly not a single corporate entity has shown interest in maintaining the public toilets,” a senior NDMC official said. The official lamented that many of these firms want to “build toilets”, but not maintain them.

“We thought, it would be a win-win situation if they could help in upkeep of public conveniences through their CAR (corporate social responsibility) activities,” he said.

Mayor Preety Agarwal has also said that the NDMC will carry out a feasibility survey to assess if the public toilets in its area can be opened during night time.

“Security is one main reason to keep our toilets closed at night. But, we will do a feasibility survey to see if we can have security measures and keep the toilet open at night too, so that people can benefit from it,” Ms Agarwal added.

The BJP-led civic body declared that from December 31, all its 104 wards have become open defecation-free (ODF).

“From December 31, 2017, now all 104 wards under the jurisdiction of the NDMC are open defecation-free. North corporation has adequate number of community and public toilets as per the yardsticks of the Swachh Bharat Mission,” she said.

Many tourist sites, including the famous Chandni Chowk in the historic Shahjehanabad area in Old Delhi, fall under the jurisdiction of the NDMC. There are 314 community toilet complexes (CTCs), with 3,508 seats for men and 3,232 seats for women.

Besides, there are a total of 2,063 seats of men and 3,256 seats for women available in the public toilets, including the ones at petrol pumps, restaurants, metro stations and DDA markets falling in the areas under the jurisdiction of the corporation, she said.

Municipal commissioner Madhup Vyas, said, this ODF achievement will “go a long way in improving the ranking” of the NDMC in the Swachchh Survekshan ranking.

In the Swachchh Bharat reckoning of 434 cities for 2016-17, areas falling under the three municipal corporations were at a low — the EDMC (196), SDMC (202) and NDMC (279).