The recent incident of a man being beaten up for trying to stop a group of people from urinating on the side of the road in Delhi has brought to the forefront the issue of providing public toilets in India. Rohan Ramesh speaks to Bengaluru Mayor G. Padmavathi on the issue of Bengaluru Bruhat Mahanagara Palike's (BBMP) efforts to root out public defecation.
“I want to encourage the use of public toilets by common folk. I am in favour of and backing the idea of opening bathroom facilities at hotels and restaurants to women and children. As a woman I understand the problems we face," said Mrs. Padmavathi. She confirmed the fact that BBMPs priority would be to provide clean sanitation facilities in especially crowded areas like market places and commercial areas.
Acknowledging the fact that public toilets are badly maintained to the point of being unusable, the mayor said that all efforts were being made to provide people with clean public sanitation facilities. "We are making all efforts to provide Bengaluru's public with clean public toilets. Yes there have been reports about a few badly maintained BBMP toilets. This is due to tendering issues. We hope to solve all these problems soon," she added.
The mayor candidly pointed out to the fact that Prime Minister Modi had included public 1000 toilets in the budget for Bengaluru alone. “The Prime Minister in the budget announced that the city of Bengaluru will get 1000 e-toilets. These toilets will be maintained by the BBMP," she said.
The success of schemes like this depends, to a considerable extent, on cooperation across stakeholders. A number of likeminded NGOs have come forward to bolster the BBMP's efforts to provide clean sanitation facilities. "A lot of NGOs like Astha, Sulabh and Vishal are making strong efforts to help provide people with sanitation facilities in the city. They help the BBMP maintain a lot of public toilets and are crucial," she stressed.
Coming back to the issue of women and children and the problems they face in public places where there are no toilets, Mayor Padmavathi said she was in favour of letting women and children use toilets situated in hotels. "The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has entered into an arrangement with the Delhi Hoteliers Association which allows women and children the right to use toilets in hotels. I want a similar arrangement in Bengaluru but the proposal has to be put in front of the council before anything else can be done."
