MCDS rush to build toilets for Swachh anniversary
NEWDELHI: New toilets are springing up in Delhi, a megapolis of more than 20 million people that is short on public conveniences but long on queues of men relieving themselves against roadside walls.
Some of these toilets built with taxpayers’ money are allegedly coming up near facilities that already exist but no longer in use for lack of maintenance.
The building frenzy is spurred by the city’s three Bjp-ruled municipal corporations, which are allegedly hard-pressed to showcase their performance on the third anniversary of the government’s signature Swachh Bharat Abhiyan — a mission to modernise sanitation in India.
The civic agencies resolved this May that there will be enough public toilets to prevent people from defecating in the open. They announced to achieve the target by October 2, the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the cleanliness drive three years ago.
The south and east corporations said in August they would meet the target, but the northern agency called for time till December 15.
But construction began a few weeks ago “hurriedly just for the Swachh Bharat campaign”, according to Rakesh Kumar, the Ajmeri Gate councilor and opposition leader in the North Delhi
Corporation should make efforts to open unused toilets instead of constructing more.
RAKESH KUMAR, Ajmeri Gate councillor and NDMC Oppn leader The authorities found it necessary to build another toilet. The unused unit needs to be checked
A SPOKESPERSON, North Delhi Municipal Corporation
Municipal Corporation.
“The corporation should maintain existing toilets and make efforts to open unused ones instead of constructing more. I opposed the construction as it encroaches upon a park,” he said.
With little time to complete projects, the civic agencies ignored building standards and built toilets at places without looking if a public convenience is required there or not, opposition political parties and residents alleged.
A toilet in Deshbandhu Gupta Park, opposite Kamla Market in the Ajmeri Gate area, is one such instance. The brickwork is almost complete but shopkeepers in the area alleged that the toilet is built without safety features such as pillars or iron beams.
Located close to New Delhi railway station, there are at least six toilets in the vicinity — one right across the road, barely 50 metres away. But most of these are in bad shape and unusable.