“ The PEE Problem” Thiruvananthapuram public toilets in appalling conditions: The Hindu, February 19, 2014
Locating a public comfort station can be a daunting task in the city. Chances are that you will run around the streets in search of one, sometimes even going past it without noticing. If lack of sufficient numbers is the first problem as far as public toilets are concerned, tracing the existing ones can be even more tiresome. Armed with a list of 18 pay-and-use public toilets run by the City Corporation and six others run by Sulabh International, an effort to locate them turned out to be a draining exercise. At several places, even the local people and shopkeepers were unaware of the exact location of the toilets. The reason: many of these are hidden from ‘public’ view. *Unfastened doors* The struggle does not end with locating the toilet. In fact, it has just begun, since finding one where the doors can be latched is tough. The concept of fastening the door seems to be absent here, with most toilet doors having no latch. In some places, they have a ‘rope and nail arrangement’ to shut the door from inside. Some have only the rope, and you are expected to hold the door tightly shut through the duration of your stay, or hum aloud to alert anyone who might be in a hurry to get in. *The worst affected* Tourists, auto and taxi drivers, migrant workers, marketing agents and city dwellers who travel regularly are the ones who are the worst affected by the scarcity of toilets. Many major areas of the city like Sasthamangalam, Vattiyoorkavu and Pattom are missing from the public toilet map. “There is a huge scarcity of toilets in the city. As per international standards, a city of Thiruvananthapuram’s spread and population should have a minimum of 500 toilets, equally spread over the city. But we have only 24. We should follow the model put forward by Linfen city in China, a city of six lakh population, which had only 12 public toilets five years back. The government took it upon itself to change the city’s misnomer of ‘the worst city to live in’ and built 200 toilets in a year. The U.N. has put forward this as a model to follow,” says M. Vijayakumaran Nair, Joint Secretary of the NGO Environmental and Developmental Initiatives for Thiruvananthapuram Till then, if the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation’s toilet map is tough to negotiate through, spending a little cash to buy a cup of tea and depending on toilets in hotels may be the way out. Now read this Mayor made to watch film on awful public toilets: TOI Aug 12, 11.42 PM IST MUMBAI: A day after they persuaded municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte to put right the pathetic condition of public toilets for women, members of the 'Right to Pee' movement landed at mayor Sunil Prabhu's Shivaji Park residence. They made a presentation on the deplorable public toilet scene across the city with a 16-minute film. The activists had met Prabhu along with Kunte at the BMC headquarters on Monday where he had shown an interest in seeing the campaign film. Activist Supriya Sonar of the movement said, "A visual presentation can have a much stronger impact." Prabhu, in turn, praised the group for bringing to light the urgent requirement and asked them to meet him after eight days. In the interim period, Prabhu said he will hear out civic officials on why public toilets are in such an awful state. "The mayor has also suggested that a nodal officer be appointed to just inspect public toilets and their usability. A summary audit by civic officials says there are just 15 toilets for the physically challenged," said Mumtaz Sheikh of the 'Right to Pee' initiative. Joke of the Day A wise Elderly woman once said…Being Old Is Great An old Woman was asked, "At your ripe age, what would you prefer to get: Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s?" The wise one answered, "Definitely Parkinson’s. Better to spill half my wine than to forget where I keep the bottle. Picture of the Day [image: cid:FA0ACA95D58F4C799B962AD2B8CA480B@RobertJeannine] -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
