While it has been more than nine years from the time countries have been observing World Toilet Day on November 19, the city is yet to achieve much more in terms of preventing people from urinating and defecating in public.
In Mumbai, the sanitation scenario is worse. A single toilet seat caters to 81 people in a day. There is a requirement for 64,000 toilet seats in Mumbai city. There are 1,300 pay-and-use toilets for a population of 14 million. In the Clean Up campaign, fines mostly collected by the Clean Up marshals were from people urinating in public and comprised 65% of the penalty amount collected.
Thane city currently has 8,774 toilets seats including public toilets, which cater to more than 4,57,465 people living in slums.
However to service the population of 211 slums in the Thane, there is a requirement of more than 3,000 toilet seats across the city. According to the government norms, a single toilet seat can be used almost 40 times a day. However due to the shortage, one toilet seat is used 55 times in a day.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) under its Nirmal Abhiyan project plans to construct 7,800 toilet seats across the city. Under this plan work orders have been given for construction of 2,384 seats.
Work on 340 units has been completed and 573 toilet seats are in the pipeline. The project is expected to be completed in a year's time.
However civic activists claim that the construction of toilet seats in the city will be of no help due to lack of civic sense among people. "It is only when these toilets are maintained well, will the public feel like using them. Public toilets will be hardly used if they are dirty and people will continue to defecate on the road," said Ramesh Deo, an NGO volunteer.
However civic officials claim that the toilet units which are being built under the state agency's plan will be maintained by the people. "Local NGOs and communities will be asked to maintain them,” said an official.
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