City of toilets: UNDP to build 2,000 toilets

In its bid to make the city defecation-free by March 2017, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) is pooling all the resources to build toilets in the city. In a recent announcement, the civic body said the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will construct 2,000 toilets in the city.

Open defecation is a problem not only in Thane, but across India and lack of sanitation facility needs to be addressed with dire urgency. But the TMC's goal is to make the city defecation-free in a year and the officials said they are taking every step possible to achieve the goal.

"On January 6, the UNDP has agreed to build 2,000 toilets in the city under Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan," said Sandeep Malvi, the public relation officer, TMC. To give Thanekars dignity, the TMC is pulling out all stops. "We are trying to get funds from the Center and the state government to provide sanitation facilities to our citizens," he said.

Last year, under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, NGO Habitat for Humanity India agreed to build 10 community toilets in 10 TMC wards on pilot project basis. "We are ensuring that through the government, our own resources and PPP, we are able to build individual toilets, public toilets and community toilets across the city," Malvi added.