Hyderabad: The toilets in the premises of the historic Macca Masjid, meant for the use of devotees, are frequently used by tourists due to absence of public toilets in the area.
Tourists from all over the globe throng the place, but the absence of public toilets leaves them with no other option but use the ones meant for the devotees.
Macca Masjid caretaker Md. Moinuddin said, “Tourists who come to see Charminar and Macca Masjid are guided by the locals to the facility on the masjid premises because there are no public toilets nearby. This is not right since maintaining these toilets is a challenge because we don’t get sufficient funds to do so. We have to rely on our own resources.”
Prakash Kumar, a visitor said, “We came from Rajasthan to see Charminar, but we couldn’t find any public toilets. When we asked a local shopkeeper, he guided us to this mosque. We were told that due to lack of public toilets in the surrounding areas, everybody uses the ones in the mosque premises.”
Ajay Chavan, the cleaner who manages the toilets said that the salary fixed by the authorities is not sufficient. “I take money from visitors for maintenance. Moreover, the toilets meant for women are also not maintained properly. They complain that when the toilets are not properly maintained, why should they pay to use them,” Mr Chavan said.
“With the new prefabricated toilets being set up around the city, we were expecting that one or two will be installed in these areas. However, as usual, the Old City was neglected because the authorities think that ‘it’s ok whether we do it or not, people will adjust’,” said Md. Akram, a hotel owner.
He added, “Shop owners have been using these toilets since many years, but tourists face a lot of difficulty in finding public toilets because there aren’t any. So if anyone asks us, we guide them to use the toilets in the masjid premises.”
