TMC told to follow Pune model, provide women toilets

The Bombay high court on Monday directed the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) to follow the Pune corporation model in providing toilet to women in public places like markets.

A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice AS Gadkari directed the Thane civic body to formulate a plan of action to build and maintain toilets in public places and file a compliance report within a month.

The direction was given during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Milun Saryajani, an NGO that has been pursuing the issue for many years, to implead civic corporations of all major cities in Maharashtra, so that women there don't face problems.

The court had during the last hearing directed all the civic corporations in the state to follow the Pune model in providing public toilets in places with high footfall so that women can use them easily. Accordingly, the TMC informed the court that since several toilets in malls and theatres were available in Thane, the requirement for building additional ones was not felt.

The court thus reprimanded the civic body and said: "The areas mentioned by you can only be accessed by the persons who enter them. However, if persons are in market places or areas like public gardens, then where would they go?"

The court thus ordered the corporation to come out with a plan to build and maintain toilets. The NGO had moved a PIL in the HC claiming that there are several working women across the city and they find it difficult to use the existing toilets as they are not clean. Consequently, they suffer from ailments by virtue of not having access to a place to urinate.