Hyderabad: Despite spending Rs 5 crore per zone on poorly maintained public toilets, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation is planning to add 160 more ‘She-marts’ (toilets).
A civic official said that the poor maintenance of the existing toilets was due to the lack of accountability of the agencies that are paid to maintain them. The corporation will install the 60 new toilets in open spaces and public parks identified by the deputy commissioners. The toilets will cost an estimated Rs 10 lakh each. A hundred mobile toilets costing Rs 12 lakh each will be made available under the corporate social responsibility of various organisations. The GHMC official said that during phase 1,60 stationary women’s toilets and 15 mobile women’s toilets will be installed in public parks and open space available in the city. Each zone will have 10 stationary and three mobile toilets.
The existing 38 women’s toilets, 157 build-operate-transfer (BOT) toilets, 77 pre-fabricated toilets and five community toilets in the city are in very bad shape because they have been poorly maintained. The GHMC official said that `5 crore is spent per zone for maintenance and renovation of the toilets annually.
The conventional tender process and handing the toilets to private agencies to maintain has not yielded better results and has irked citizens, so now major companies in the city will be roped in and will be penalised for substandard and poor maintenance.
Surprisingly, despite the poor maintenance of public toilets and the lack of public use, the corporation has attained ODF ++ (Open defecation free) status. The ODF++ status is awarded to cities with smart toilets, no open drainages, and adequate sewerage treatment plants (STPs).
