THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: E-toilets in the city have been biting dust after the auto cleaning system went for a toss in the poorly ventilated cabins. On the other hand, the city corporation which has only 20 public latrines in its 100 wards has never been able to mobilise money to construct new ones. While Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds are being sought for schemes like cycle path, loos do not get enough support.
“The closest thing to CSR we got in district for toilet was Rs 20 lakh from Adani group for constructing 200 household toilets in Vizhinjam area. For that also we have not got any funds. The e-toilets has proven to be an utter failure as automatic cleaning systems went wrong some way or the other way,” said a senior official at Suchitwa mission. As per officials, there are around 15 e-toilets and around 25 she toilets. Of this, not even a quarter are functional at any given point of time.
“There is no replacement to traditional public toilets. Almost all corporation loos do not have contractors who are legally bound to maintain them. So they are normally unclean. The user’s bad habits are blamed, but we have example of well maintained Sulabh toilets in metros,” officials added. As per sources, officials are trying to get CSR funds to build two public toilets at Anchuthengu, but city has nothing new to hope for. Citizens point out that, barring the loos at Thampanoor bus stand and near Fort wall, all other public latrines are located at places away from public attention.
Women find no way on highway
Highway users, especially women, have little option when it comes to taking a leak during a journey. Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) floated by the state government to build latrines-cum-refreshment centres using Public Private Partnership (PPP) to solve the issue has fallen flat on ground after two years of its establishment. While state government wonders on ways to revamp the SPV named ‘Ashwas’, the LDF ruled Thiruvananthapuram district panchayat wants to construct 21 latrine-cum-refreshment centres simultaneously under the banner ‘Vazhiyambalam’.
While both projects remain in paper, the highway users have to be at the mercy of few private eateries to take a leak. “For highway users, especially women, private restaurants are the only option to take a leak. The biggest problem is most of them are European closet and are poorly maintained,” said Radhika M.K., a frequent traveller. In spite of it being mandatory for all fuel stations to have latrines for women, the norm is rarely followed.
“The new minister wants PWD to just build latrines and probably wants private contractors to run it. A meeting was conducted to decide the future of Ashwas and more clarity will come once the minutes are published,” a senior official said. Ashwas Public Amenities Ltd wanted to build luxurious toilets on the lines of Sulabh. Space for them had to be leased from PWD or civic bodies. After construction of three facilities including the first one at Aroor, the SPV has gone into a hibernation mode. District panchayat president V.K. Madhu claimed that tenders had already been floated for ‘Vazhiyambalam’ that works on the lines of Ashwas.
