Namma Ooru Chennai: Distress, disgust on streets

Chennai: The campaign for improving the infrastructure and general amenities of ‘Namma Ooru Chennai’ through the popular breakfast show of ‘92.7BigFM’ that is co-hosted by Deccan Chronicle on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesday, focused this week on the hugely embarrassing practice of public defecation.

Acute shortage of public toilets and lack of awareness of the health and hygiene factors has made Chennai to stink of urine and faecis in many places. The large number of calls that landed at the studio console of Giri-Giri, the hit RJ of BigFM, from the show listeners clearly showed the extent of distress and disgust among the people due to public urination.

The silver lining was a Deccan Chronicle article published on October 30, where reporter Jackson Jose had given the good news that Chennai Corporation plans to set up 348 modular public toilets at an estimated cost of Rs 23 crore by the end of this year. Of these, 30 prototypes are already operation and are attracting large crowds. There would be 99 E-toilets, 15 bio-toilets, 37 namma toilets and 153 ‘sara plast’ toilets when the much-needed project goes through.

Mr Narayanaswamy of E-Ram Scientific, the suppliers of e-toilets, came on air to participate in the radio program and explain to the curious listeners what an E-toilet is.

In brief, this toilet does not need an attendant and has automatic lights and flushing systems.

“It even directs the user with auto commands. The toilet is programmed to flush 1.5 litres of water after three minutes of usage or 4.5 litres if the usage is longer. We could programme it in such a way that there is a complete wash down after every five or ten persons use the toilet”, Mr Narayanaswamy explained patiently.

Interestingly, a few of these E-toilets have already been installed in some parts of the city, including the Gandhi Mandapam, over a fortnight ago but for some reason, their inauguration is delayed.

Maduravoyal’s Hussain was among the many callers in the show.

Apart from expressing his anguish at the growing incidents of public defecation, he also thanked Deccan Chronicle and BigFM for raising important civic issues and getting the government authorities to quickly set right those problems.