'Only 132 public toilets for 20 lakh population in Patna'

By:Soumya Sharma
PATNA: The state capital has only 132 public toilets for over 20 lakh population, causing inconvenience to the denizens, said Vishal Anand, the deputy commissioner of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC), on Monday.

The city vying for the Smart City tag with population floating every day also fairs quite poor in Swachh Survekshan (sanitation survey). According to the ranking list of Swachh Survekshan 2017, Biharsharif ranked 146th among 200 listed cities by scoring 1,117 out of 2000. Patna, on the other hand, scored 880 out of 2,000 points and was ranked at 262nd. Pungent smelling areas, men urinating on roadsides and many such sights have highlighted the paradox of the civic body aiming to make bigger developments and lagging behind in the improvement of basic issues.

“There are 86 toilets monitored by PMC, including public and community lavatories. The administration wishes to promote use of public toilets. Hence, we have assigned the task of maintaining proper sanitation and hygienic conditions in the toilets to a private agency two months back. The toilets across the city will be inspected in the coming 30-40 days,” PMC deputy commissioner told this newspaper.

He said PMC is targeting to increase the number of toilets by constructing some portable cabins for males and modular toilets for females at major locations in the city.

One of the city residents rued that the lesser number of toilets causes high inconvenience to the people. “For most people, it is difficult to control urination in their bladders for long and it is also unhealthy. So, toilets should be built after short distances,” said Mahesh Dayanand, a commuter spotted on Boring Canal Road.

PMC officials claimed out of the 86 toilets under the municipal body, 25 are deluxe and 58 are the general ones. “The deluxe toilets have all the amenities and the maintenance of other general toilets is now regulated by a private firm.”

Another city resident, Mrinali Awasthi, said, “Male dysfunctional flushes, unhygienic floors and foul smell in public toilets force most of the people to pee on roadside. Instead of penalizing them, the district administration should work on the maintenance of hygiene in toilets.”