The embarrassment one feels while watching people relieve themselves on busy roads in the city will soon end if the plans of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC)'s health department to set up mobile toilets at frequently used public areas bear fruit.

The AMC health committee has decided to introduce mobile toilets keeping in mind hygiene and health issues — including stinking roads and increasing health hazards because of irresponsible behaviour of citizens, many of whom come from supposedly decent backgrounds. Senior health officials say they have discussed the proposal to provide mobile toilets at busy junctions.

"We considered setting up such mobile toilet vans in areas which are busy but do not have public toilets in the vicinity. Also, we are also considering placing these vans in slum areas where people can utilize them and stop using open plots or railway tracks to ease themselves," said a senior AMC official.

Officials also believe that one of the prime reasons for such vans is the fact that the pay and use toilets in the city are not in good shape, or encroached upon or used by miscreants at night.
"In the new system, mobile toilets can temporarily stand at a specific area for a precise period. Once used, the van can be emptied in a nearby sewer line so that there is no possibility of stinking or choking- like we see in public toilets," the official said.

Right now, officials plan to identify one busy junction in each zone and ward to fix the timing for the toilet vans. Going by estimates, three zones in the city — north, west and new west zone — require construction of around 17,000 toilets so people do not have to relieve themselves in open land or at roadside junctions.