FPJ OPED – Pay-and-Use Public Toilets
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“Free Press Journal and Karmayog.org have entered into a collaboration to promote the involvement and empowerment of citizens and community groups in civic and social issues. We will jointly present a special column every Thursday for featuring articles on social, civic and developmental issues. The articles carried herein will cover a diverse range of topics ranging from disaster management to public health, improving city governance to senior citizens, etc.”
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The construction and management of the toilets of a city reflect the civilization of a country and also reflect the comprehensive strength of a country and living standards of a society
– Ji Lin, Deputy Mayor of Beijing, World Toilet Summit 2004
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Mumbais quest for world city status starts with the public toilet
Mumbai, the capital city of the state of Maharashtra and Indias most important financial capital, has a population of 18.3 million people, making it the fourth largest urban agglomeration in the world, after Tokyo, Mexico City and New York-Newark.
The floating population (of labour, traders, tourists and other visitors) itself in Mumbai is estimated to be approx. 30-40 lakhs. This floating population adds an additional burden on the citys available infrastructure, especially on the public toilets in the city, which currently number approximately 1300.
Public toilets can be broadly divided into two types: Community toilets (e.g. in slum colonies) and Pay-and-Use toilets (e.g. in high density areas such as tourist destinations and bus termini). This article looks at the situation of the pay-and-use public toilets in Mumbai, and how these can be improved.
Many of us would flinch at having to use a public toilet on a daily basis, as most are dirty, unhygienic and in a state of disrepair due to over use and poor maintenance. In our attempts to transform Mumbai into a global city with world-class infrastructure, we need to also focus on making our city more liveable by providing for easy access to a clean public toilet.
Public Toilets are a Universal Need
Clean and easily accessible public toilets are a global need of humans across the world, and how each city deals with this situation and provides a solution to the problem reveals the level of civic consciousness and hygiene of its citizens.
- Hong Kong organizes polls on Best Public Toilets. A unique polling on “Best Public Toilets” was organized by Radio Television Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Toilet Association with the support of People’s Health Actions. The assessment criteria “CASH” was composed of comfort, accessibility, safety and hygiene.
- Australia has a National Public Toilet Map that shows the location of more than 14,000 public and private public toilet facilities across Australia. (http://www.toiletmap.gov.au/staticpage.aspx?page=about) This map is a useful tool for anyone undertaking a trip or holiday providing information on suitable toilet breaks before the journey begins.
- Modern toilet complexes, called the Nirmala Bangalore toilet complexes were constructed in Bangalore as part of a public-private partnership by the Infosys Foundation and the BATF.
Need for a comprehensive policy for pay-and-use public toilets in Mumbai
Without a sound, city specific policy for pay-and-use public toilets in Mumbai, there is no focus for the planning of sanitation programmes and no sure basis for developing the multi-layered organisational structures needed to devolve responsibility for sanitation down to lower levels of government. Too often responsibilities become blurred because of overlapping and sometimes conflicting interests in government departments or other institutions variously responsible for housing, urban development, environmental protection, or other aspects of civic life.
It was with this background that a Draft of General Recommendations and Policy for Pay – & – Use Public Toilets in Mumbai was prepared by the NGO Council.
Some of the main features of this draft policy:
- Objectives of the policy are to:
– Formulate best policies/practices in provision of user based facility, design for urban capacities, systems & processes for efficient construction and maintenance of facilities.
– Iimprove quality and sustainability of pay and use toilets.
– Make facilities safer and user friendly.
– Commit and protect more land for public toilets.
– Identify planning and designing aspects for toilet construction, operation and (management of costs.)
– Put user at the centre of process.
- Planning Criteria:
a) Factors to be considered for Selection Criteria of public toilets:
– High volume of pedestrians / hawkers
– Market zones/ hawker zone
– Important / crowded Tourist points
– Nearby toilets not in working/usable condition
– No toilets in close vicinity
b) Factors to be considered for Rejection Criteria
– Lack of sufficient land
– Already existing pay & use toilets in good condition in close vicinity
– High-tension electric/ cable wires passing overhead/underground
– Underground telephone, sewer lines that cannot be re-routed if needed
– Low-pressure area, affecting adequate water supply
– Adjacent to heritage structures
– Adjacent to religious complex
– Close to Defence area
- Provide for different types of Users such as:
– Women and Men of all ages
– Elderly people i.e. aged people above the age of 60. (senior citizens)
– Disabled people i.e. physically disabled, visually impaired etc.
– Babies and small children (Age 0-8)
– Commuters Public and Private transport
– Tourists and Visitors
- Good toilet design must include the following:
– Ensure safety and protection of toilets from miscreants and vandals.
– 75-80% of the total stalls provided should be Indian/ Orissa Pan, as majority of the users find this comfortable and it is also more hygienic.
– 20-25% of the total stalls provided should be Western… especially for the disabled and old people and tourists.
– Ensure 24 hrs securities for toilets that will be available round the clock.
– The look and feel of the toilets needs to be uniform in design.
– Security considerations, number of WCs, bath and urinals needs to be planned on a case to case basis
Steps forward and how you can get involved
Most citizens agree that public toilets are needed at as many places as possible, but these same persons oppose the construction of a public toilet near their own premises. The reasons for non-acceptability is that such services if not maintained properly become an eye-sore as well as a nuisance to the people who are staying there. Proper policies, implementation and management strategies will ensure that the public toilets are maintained well. Identifying appropriate locations for public toilets requires local citizens to get involved with the authorities and together find acceptable solutions.
MCGM has recently proposed the construction of several new toilet blocks across the city, and a list of 95 proposed sites for the same has been drawn up. The list of proposed sites is available at:
http://www.karmayog.com/publictoilet/publictoiletsblocks.htm
Interested citizens are requested to give their feedback to the same, by writing to info@karmayog.org
Cultural expressions mirror the public toilet situation in Mumbai
Q2P (Queue to Pee) is a documentary film about toilets and the city, directed by Paromita Vohra. Q2P peers through the dream of a futuristic Bombay and searches for public toilets, watching who has to queue to pee. The toilet becomes a riddle with many answers and some of those answers are questions are about gender, about class, about caste and most of all about space, urban development and the twisted myth of the global metropolis.
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For more information on Public Toilets, and other Civic and Social Issues undertaken by NGOs and individuals, see www.karmayog.org. Send your views and news to info@karmayog.org . Karmayog, Shreeniwas House, 2nd floor, H. Somani Marg, Fort, Mumbai 400001. Tel: 22000478 / 22013535. Fax: 22035410.
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