Sir,
Recently the Union and the State Governments have stressed the need for the construction of more and more toilets to end the habit of open defecation among both urban and rural poor and create awareness in people about the need to have toilets to prevent diseases.For this purpose,the ambitious schemes such as Bharat Nirmal Abhiyaan and Total Sanitation Programme have been launched.But at the same time,it is also the responsibility of the civic bodiess such as Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils, Town Area Commities etc to properly maintain the existing toilets constructed at public places such as bus stands,busy city chowks etc.It is generally seen that the toilets other than those run and maintained by Sulabh International, are in a very bad and unhygienic condition with foul smell emanating from them and human excreta lying undisposed.Many of them have broken and rusty doors. It is also not uncommon to find empty bottles,cigarette butts and pouches of liquor inside them.Their walls and doors are often covered with different substances such as tobacco, chutki,etc.
The facility of toilet is,undoubtedly, a basic facility especially for the womenfolk and more and more community and public toilets need to be constructed on busy places and slum areas.They should be maintained properly by regularly disinfecting them lest they should become the breeding grounds for the outbreak and spread of diseases.Efforts must also be made to create awareness in people about proper sanitation in and around the toilets.
Nominal charges may be charged from the users to generate funds for their maintenance and sanitation. Those found throwing liquor bottles, cigarette butts and other such things may be fined to avoid recurrence of such acts.The organisations entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining the existing toilets should ensure that the toilets have proper doors and walls and that they have hygienic and user friendly environment in and around them.
Yours etc…
Ashok Sharma
Udhampur
Follow our WhatsApp channel