In the wake of long-standing efforts put in by 30 NGOs leading the Right to Pee campaign for women, the BMC has formed a committee to look into the issues raised by its members.
Representatives of the NGOs, who for more than three years have been demanding separate urinals for women, called on civic chief Sitaram Kunte. Kunte in-turn has ordered to form a 10-member committee to look into ward-wise issues concerning women.
The committee will comprise five NGO representatives and as many civic officials. The committee will look into the demands put forth by the members at ward-level, assess the situation and frame an action plan to solve the issue, Kunte said.
"They discussed their concerns with me. I have directed to form a panel and assess the situation across the 24 wards. Further course of action will be decided only after receiving the report," Kunte said.
Supriya Sonar, a member of CORO, one of the campaigning NGOs, said that the BMC will assess the existing situation only by Tuesday evening, otherwise they will stage a protest.
"We have not received any response from the municipal administration for the past two-and-half years. We did everything that was possible to put forth our case. But despite provisions being made in the BMC budget for 2013-14, no steps have been taken to address the issue. So, as discussed in the meeting with the commissioner, if the BMC does not come up with some plan by Tuesday, then we will stage a protest," Sonar said.
According to campaigners, there are 2,849 separate free toilets blocks for men as against none for women. As per the Census 2011, there are 57,41,632 women in the city.
Demands put forth by the campaigners
* Free, clean, safe and separate public toilets for women
* Constructing toilet blocks at every 2km
* BMC must display boards at pay and use toilets mentioning 'urinals are free' messages
* Handicapped women be given priority while allotting toilets management jobs
* Toilets for women be managed by ladies only
* Provision for waste collection and sanitary pads
* Constructing an ideal toilet blocks and making a provision in this regard in city's development plan (DP) for the next two decades
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