GATEWAY OF INDIA GETS TEN ‘ALLWOMEN’ FREE TOILETS

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) inaugurated an ‘All Women’ free toilet facility at the Gateway of India on Thursday morning.

Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray inaugurated the toilet facility, which has 10 seats, including one for the speciallyabled. The facility also has a feeding room for babies, changing room for women and a sanitary napkin vending machine as well as an incinerator.

It has been built by Samatech Foundation, in partnership with organisations, Round Table India and Ladies Circle India at a cost of ₹25 lakh. This is the second toilet which has been built as a part of the Corporate Social Responsibility, for free use after the Marine Drive toilet, which was also one of the costliest ones in the city.

Most of the tourists attractions are in A ward, which comprises of areas like Colaba and Fort. Kiran Dighavkar, the assistant commissioner of A ward, who is also the nodal officer for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, said, “About 6,000-7,000 tourists come to Gateway on weekdays and about 20,000-25,000 during weekends. The free toilet facility will benefit all women tourists.”

The civic body is in its final leg of framing a policy towards free toilets in tourist and high footfall localities.

The idea was first mooted by civic chief Ajoy Mehta during the 2018 budget announcement, and now with the inauguration of the toilet at Gateway, the idea is finally taking shape.

A senior BMC official said, “We are framing a policy for places with maximum footfall and tourist attractions. The policy will soon get a final approval. The toilets will be of international standards and the BMC will appoint an agency for their maintenance.”

Dighavkar added, “We are now working to build the next free toilet at Crawford Market.”

Currently, the city has 942 ‘Pay and use toilets’ with 11,300 seats, of which only 3,914 seats are for women.