PUBLIC TOILETS IN INDIA

 INTRODUCTION

We are well aware of the fact that public toilets have always been a point of discussion in India ever since we gained Independence. The common adjectives that come to our minds while thinking of Indian public toilets are unclean, filthy, dirty, disgusting, sloppy. Let alone the rural areas, even the metropolitan cities of our country do not provide a safe and clean public washroom at every level. Although efforts have been made but we still have a long way to go!

While both the men’s and women’s facilities tend to be untidy, the process is distinctly unhealthy, unsafe, and strenuous particularly for women due to prompt intimate physical contact with the facilities.

       
        

 LACK OF ACCESS TO TOILETS FOR FEMALES

India, the world’s second-largest country by population, has the highest number of people (732 million) without access to toilets, according to a news report. The report by WaterAid, titled Out Of Order: The State of the World’s Toilets 2017, further stated that 355 million women and girls lack access to a toilet. If they were to stand in a line, the queue could circle the Earth more than four times. This is just one of the many data examples that shows how poor our state of toilets in general is.

   

 IMPACT OF POOR SANITATION/ OPEN DEFECATION ON HEALTH

Hookworms, which can spread through open defecation, cause diarrhea, anemia and weight loss in women, according to the report. These problems are linked to low birth weight and slow child growth – 38% of children in India under five are stunted, according to the National Family Health Survey, 2015-16, (NFHS-4) data. Indian states with poor access to sanitation report high incidence of diarrheal diseases. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Chhattisgarh had the highest rate of mortality among children under five years of age, higher stunting (low height-for-age) rates and higher prevalence of diarrhea due to poor sanitation. In rural India, high dropout rates and non-enrolment among girls can be attributed to absence of toilet facilities, as India Spend reported on July 19, 2017. 

Broken toilet seats, soggy floors and lack of soap / watery solution passing for soap are some other shortcomings one faces while using a public restroom.  A survey by the Union housing ministry showed that 55 per cent of public washrooms were either extremely dirty or completely unusable in Delhi. Media reports have alleged that quarantine facilities used to keep patients of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have dirty toilets and no soaps.

LACK OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND FILTHY CONDITIONS OF TOILETS IN DHARAVI

Lack of proper infrastructure plays a very important role in letting toilet built under SBM-U (Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban) remain dirty and unusable. Since the government floats third party tenders for maintenance of these toilets and since there is virtually no one overseeing their work, the parties that are allotted the tenders often misuse the money given to them to make profits. This not only leads to the wastage of public funds but also jeopardizes the health and well-being of those communities/people using these community/public toilets.  According to the advisory of Swachh Bharat Mission- Urban, there should be one toilet for every 1 to 12 persons. However, Dharavi, the largest slum in Asia with almost 8.5 lakh residents, has just about 8000 toilets, according to a survey by The MOJO. Slums are the major users of community toilets across the country. Sarla, a domestic worker living in the slums of East Delhi, said, “Instead of walking for 15 minutes and then standing in the queue to use the toilet, we prefer to relieve ourselves in the open at deserted places after its dark.”

 

LACK OF WOMEN AND PwD FRIENDLY TOILETS

Women friendly toilets is also one of the criteria mentioned in the advisory of Swachh Bharat Mission- Urban. However, a survey by Pinkishe, an organisation working to ensure women empowerment, found that around 90 per cent of women in India avoid Public Toilets as they are ‘too dirty to use’. Rohini Mishra, a resident of Delhi, says, “Once I used a public toilet in Connaught Place, one of the most elite and developed areas of Delhi, and suffered Urinary Tract infection due to the dirty seat, after which I never used one again in my life.” Besides this, the construction and design of Public Toilets and Community Toilets are also not convenient for use of the People with Disability (PwD), which is clearly mentioned in the advisory of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban. An RTI by Advocate Akeel Usmani revealed that there are around 19 states in India which do not have even one disabled-friendly public or community toilets. This is a disturbing figure for a country with almost 2.21 per cent of PWD population, according to Census 2011. The needs of a woman are better recognized by a fellow woman, which is why there should be a female caretaker in the Public Toilets and Community Toilets of the country. Mandatory bins for sanitary pads and issues related to the menstrual hygiene are better managed when there is a female caretaker in toilets. However, an imbalance in the ratio of male and female employees is clearly visible in the country.

   

 SWACHH BHARAT ABHIYAN

The PM Modi-spearheaded Swachh Bharat Abhiyan aims to achieve an open defecation free country, the stench of reality on the ground is dense. While the construction of public and household toilets has accelerated in the past few years, the practice of defecating in the open continues. Indubitably, the practice has a lot to do with one’s conditioning, but the poor maintenance of public restrooms is also detrimental to eliminating open defecation. A January 2019 working paper titled Changes in open defecation in rural north India: 2014 – 2018, published jointly by policy advocacy organisation Research Institute for Compassionate Economics (RICE) and New Delhi-based policy think tank Accountability Initiative (AI), presented this dismal reality statistically. After surveying 9,812 people and 156 government officials in 2014 and 2018, respectively, in Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the paper noted that though more Indians in villages owned a toilet in 2018 compared to four years ago, 44% of them still defecate in the open. 

The Swachh Bharat Mission Urban, launched under the aegis of the ministry of housing and urban affairs, notes that over 4.9 lakh community and public toilets are in working order in urban India.

 

 INITIATIVES BY DIFFERENT ORGANISATIONS

Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic and development arm of the Bharti group, for instance, announced in 2014 that it would make Punjab’s Ludhiana district free of open defecation by building 21,000 toilets across 900 villages. Dabur India has set out to build 1,000 household toilets across 26 villages in UP during 2015-16. ITC constructed 8,550 household toilets in 2016-17, while Mahanadi Coalfields has constructed 10,546 toilets in the schools of various districts of Odisha. NTPC, too, has spearheaded the construction of 29,000 toilets in 16,000 schools, covering 83 districts, spread over 17 states across the country. While these initiatives are laudable, poor maintenance of these public facilities often makes the effort pointless.

Where various surveys show a disappointing reality of public toilets in India, there are some PTs which have set an example for the management and operation of public toilets in India. A public toilet constructed near Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), Mumbai, one of the busiest airports of India, is one such exception. It is built by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and has a foot-fall of around 1000 people daily. It has eight and five toilet seats for men and women, respectively and also has a disabled-friendly toilet in men and women section, each. It is cleaned around 8-10 times in a day and also has a customer feedback system regarding the management of the toilet. It contains a sanitary pad vending machine and also provides a dedicated room for baby-feeding. 

• NIRMALA TOILET COMPLEX, BANGALORE

One more such exception to this is one such Nirmala Toilet complex designed by Architecture Paradigm, an acclaimed firm based in Bangalore. What stands out about this lavatory and makes it functional is it’s design. Elements such as the butterfly roof and a courtyard at the center of the linear structure encourage ventilation, thus eliminating any unpleasant odour that would otherwise linger inside the built structure.

  

•  LOO CAFÉ, HYDERABAD

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation also collaborated with IXORA FM, a Hyderabad-based company, to set up Loo Café- a 170 sq.ft. a complex comprising of a washroom each for men, women, and the differently-abled, a wi-fi facility, and a charging station. The toilets also have been provided with devices that allow elements such as energy consumption and air circulation to be controlled by the company monitor. Loo café provides its service free of cost, and the revenue to maintain this complex is generated from an adjoining café where each item costs no more than a mere 30 rupees. The structure is made up of fireproof and insect-free prefabricated wood which ensures hygiene and incites safety.

Likewise, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai collaborated with JSW Realty to accommodate a public sanitation complex along Marine Drive, a sea-facing walkway that sees lakhs of tourists and locals on a daily basis. S-shaped in the plan, this space has been designed by Serie architects. Both genders enter the facility from different sides of the ‘S’ shape, thus ensuring privacy. The curvilinear roof forges a deep overhang and is equipped with solar panels to dispense energy to the toilets. The toilets use a Norwegian Vacuum-based system to hygienically store and reuse about 90% of the flush water. The façade is made up of Corten sheets that protect the structure from the saline air and the unforgiving pummeling of the sea waves during the Monsoon.

•  TI, PUNE

The Pune Municipal Corporation, 3S, and Indus collaborated and conceptualized the “TI” toilets to overcome two problems-unhygienic public washrooms for women and the disposal of old buses that unnecessarily adds to the volume of landfills when they could be used for much longer. Old public buses were stripped of corroded and damaged parts and completely refurbished, thus increasing the lifespan of the vehicle by about 10 years. These buses were accommodated with extremely sanitary and hygienic toilets for women which include features such as a digital feedback panel, sanitary napkin vending machines and disposal bins, diaper changing stations, and essential toiletries. There is a full-time attendant available who ensures the cleanliness of this one-of-a-kind space.

 FACTS ANALYSIS AND THE ROAD AHEAD

While there have been multiple initiatives taken by individuals to make public toilets more accessible by using their sense of design, this does not solve the purpose of public toilets in India. There are few examples of healthy public toilets but these do not cater to the society at large. People in rural and semi-urban areas continue to suffer. Movies have often tried to showcase the plight of people due to no access to safe public toilets. Due to extremely poor infrastructure  or lack of knowledge in the rural areas about the importance of using toilets, people continue to defecate in open areas wherein they put the health of other people at risk knowingly or unknowingly. Although the government of India under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan helped to better the situation, we are still far away from our goal. Clean toilets is a “near yet far” mission for the people of India.

 SOURCE:  Search Engine “Google”