The city Corporation is set to address the issue of lack of enough clean public toilets with the opening of new toilets as well as implementation of a mechanism for regular upkeep of the existing ones.
Quite a few of the public toilets in the city are in need of maintenance and some of them are also not cleaned on a regular basis, making it an ordeal for the public to make use of them.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mayor Arya Rajendran said that the new public toilets would be constructed under the ‘Take a Break’ programme that the State government had announced last year, under which thousands of toilets would be opened across the State.
“The State government is allotting us funds for the project. The Corporation will be identifying the land and carrying out the work on the ground. At present, we have identified four locations for the ‘Take a Break’ centres—at Peroorkada, Pappanamcode, Fort, and Vikas Bhavan. Out of these, work has already begun at Peroorkada and Fort. Discussions are on with the KSRTC for the proposed centres at Pappanamcode and Vikas Bhavan, as the areas are under the KSRTC. We are allowed to build any number of such facilities as required. There is a need for more of these in public places where large crowds gather,” said the Mayor.
She said that the ‘Take a Break’ centres were modelled as relaxation points for visitors to the city or travellers. Along with the public toilets would be other amenities including charging points and seating facilities.
The Mayor also sought a list of all the existing public toilets in the city, which were in need of cleaning. She said that some of the toilets had fallen into disuse due to lack of cleaning. The Corporation would form a team for the regular upkeep of these toilets. Some of the existing public toilets were being maintained by contractors. The functioning of these too would be reviewed.
The State government had last year asked the local bodies across the State to identify suitable pieces of land for the setting up of ‘Take a Break’ centres. Suchitwa Mission would be the nodal agency for the project.
