Additional municipal commissioner Pallavi Darade, in-charge of the department, said a majority of the sites identified belongs to the BMC, while a few belongs to other agencies such as the MMRDA and Railways.
After drawing continuous flak from civil society groups and women's organisations for failing to put up enough comfort stations for the fair sex in the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is finally getting its act together to address the issue. The civic body's solid waste management (SWM) department recently identified 96 sites across the city, addressing the land issue, cited as the main impediment in constructing women's toilets.
According to the department sources, seven spots are located below bridges and flyovers, 71 along roads and footpaths and the rest in gardens, bus depots and other open spaces.
Additional municipal commissioner Pallavi Darade, in-charge of the department, said a majority of the sites identified belongs to the BMC, while a few belongs to other agencies such as the MMRDA and Railways.
"Since many of the sites identified are beside roads, we have written to the roads department for their no-objection certificate (NOC). Once we get it, we will go ahead with the construction work," Darade told dna.
About six years ago, the civic roads department had issued a circular, prohibiting any sort of construction, including toilets, along footpaths and road.
Darade said the BMC and 'Right to Pee' campaign (comprising 30 NGOs) committee members have conducted joint inspections and have met on several occasions, following which they have agreed upon a specific toilet design. It was in October last year, that a 10-member committee comprising BMC and the NGOs was formed to look into the issue.
Deputy municipal commissioner (SWM) Prakash Patil said a majority of the spots marked on roads and footpaths have been identified at road dead-ends, as per an earlier proposal in this regard.
dna was the first to report the proposal, formulated to address the 'space' issue. "Road dead-ends are relatively free from traffic and toilets there would not contradict the roads department circular," Patil had said.
At present, there are 1,035 public toilets with 13,441 seats in Mumbai, of which only 5,136 are for women. According to Darade, NGOs will be maintaining the toilets and a nominal amount will be charged for usage.
Supriya Sonar, one of the NGO representatives, said she is happy that repeated push from the Right to Pee activists is yielding results. "We have carried out joint inspection with the BMC for 51 sites. The toilet design that we mutually agreed upon will be coming up at a Chembur spot. It is awaiting the last few clearances," Sonar said.
What wards failed to do
In a January 2013 circular, the SWM department had asked all the 24 wards across the city to identify sites for the construction of women's toilets and submit a report within 15 days. The plan, however, failed to take off because of poor response.
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