The Kannur Cantonment Board here opened a public toilet for transgenders at the Cantonment Board public park here on Tuesday.
Chief Executive Officer Vinod Vikneswaran said that the board, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Defence providing municipal services to the entire cantonment, started the first transgender toilet of the State as a welfare initiative for the community. Since Kerala is the first State to formulate a policy for the transgenders, it encouraged the board to implement the decision, he said.
Orientation programme
Dr. Vikneswaran said the board had decided to implement a dedicated toilet for transgenders instead of a gender-neutral toilet because of the societal taboos and the presence of gender and bigender individuals among the transgenders. He said the board had also decided to train the transgenders in the field of sanitation and induct them as contractual employees.
An orientation programme had already been conducted among the transgender community members with the help of the Suraksha Health Line Project, a non-governmental organisation here working for the welfare of the transgender community.
Cantonment board president Col. Ajai Sharma, station commandant here, inaugurated the men-trangender-women toilet complex at the park. Board vice-president Col. Padmanabhan (retd.) was present.