Restaurant owners had cited their “right to admission” and the possibility of law and order problems
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation Tuesday announced that restrooms at restaurants that fall under the corporation’s jurisdiction can be used by women and children free of cost. The South corporation had first passed an order to this effect in May this year. The East corporation followed suit in June.
On Tuesday, North Delhi mayor Preety Agarwal said the move comes after consultation with owners/associations of hotels and restaurants and that all 270 of them have said the facility will be made available. As with the South and East, this decision has been taken to provide clean toilet facilities to women and children — especially in areas where such public conveniences are not available.
With the move, the South corporation had claimed to have added over 3,500 toilets in its jurisdiction. Although the corporation had suggested that restaurants could charge a nominal fee to let people use the restrooms, the restaurant owners/associations had refused the same. The move had initially met with reservations from restaurant owners since the order was made mandatory based on the fact that the corporations provide health trade licences to restaurant owners and collect taxes for commercial activity. Restaurant owners had cited their “right to admission” and the possibility of law and order problems.
The South corporation’s order was first implemented for a trial period of a month and then extended for only women and children. However, the move was not sufficiently advertised and users remained unaware of it for a long time.
The North civic body, however, seeks to change that by advertising the decision through stickers “to be stuck in front of restaurants/hotels”. The corporations have labelled the move as another step towards the implementation of the Centre’s Swachh Bharat Mission. A study commissioned by the Centre in 2015 to measure the progress of Swachh Bharat programmes positioned Delhi at the 16th position, and some parts of the city as low as 398.
