Pune has only 1 public urinal per 9,100 citizens

According to the urban development norms, there should be one public urinal per 100 citizens, but the situation in the city is
alarming, with one urinal per 9,100 citizens.

In a letter to municipal commissioner, Mahesh Zagade, citizen activist Vijay Kumbhar has urged the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to expedite its plan of constructing urinals
on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis.

Pointing out there were just 352 public urinals in the city in 2008, he said the number may have dwindled due to demolition of some urinals for road widening and other works.
He said the PMC had floated a tender for erecting proper urinals two years ago, but it is planning to erect plastic structures, which have been opposed by civic activists.

As per the BOT proposal, a private firm will erect the urinals and maintain them on a day-to-day basis in return for advertising rights from the PMC.

Kumbhar has appealed to the municipal commissioner to float tenders for erecting urinals immediately. He said a public interest litigation (PIL) relating to the condition of public urinals in the city is pending before the Bombay high court. He said former mayor, Rajlaxmi Bhosale, had announced allocation of Rs60 lakh for erecting public urinals for women for which a budgetary provision was made. However, the plan was not implemented. The funds allotted for public urinals in the annual budget were transferred to other works, he claimed.