Petrol bunks in Hyderabad to get toilets

Hyderabad: A GHMC initiative has added 285 toilets to petrol outlets in the city and the civic body is continuing its efforts to construct 80 more toilets in the remaining petrol bunks.

The city has about 365 petrol bunks and very few had toilets. Petrol bunks on highways usually have toilets for the convenience of lorry drivers and other motorists.

In order to achieve the 'Swachh Hyderabad' goal, GHMC Commissioner B. Janardhan Reddy and other officials held a series of meetings with petrol bunk owners to persuade them  construct toilets on space they already had.

On the LB Nagar ring road and a sign board.

Mr Reddy told the media that the corporation resorted to ‘Gandhigiri‘ to convince the petrol bunk owners. “We did not force them but held several review meetings with them and concerned zonal commissioners and other officials. We organised awareness programmes and counselling sessions which resulted in the construction and renovation of toilets at petrol bunks.”

He said that if the GHMC had to construct the toilets it would have cost the corporation Rs 15 crore. “The Gandhigiri way led to the saving of public money as well as achieving the target,” he said. Another official said that more toilets have been planned for the city, particularly at major junctions. “About 435 toilets are run by private agencies, of which nearly half were defunct. We have taken the initiative to restore the toilets.”

He said 50 agencies have applied for constructing new toilets. All petrol bunks that have a toilet facility will have a board outside saying so.