TOI : MMRDA to fund 80,000 public toilets : Oct 29,2007
MMRDA to fund 80,000 public toilets
Mumbai: In a boost for public health, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will construct 80,000 toilets at a cost of Rs 200 crore, next year. Approximately, half of these toilet seats will be located in Mumbai and the rest in the adjoining townships of Thane, Kalyan and Bhiwandi in the metropolitan region.
“Surveys for these toilets will be conducted soon and the construction will begin in January-end. The project should be completed within a year,’’ said MMRDA commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad.
It is estimated that some areas in the city have only one toilet block of 12 seats for a population of over 10,000. This equation results in the poor being forced to defecate on the roads, giving rise to a public health hazard. Viral diseases such as polio spread more easily in overpopulated slums that have poor sanitation. TNN