Now shoes off before using public toilets in Ghaziabad
› We have brought in the new step as those who use public toilets come in the facility with their footwear and end up bringing a lot of dust inside leading to dirtiness inside the toilets. ARUN KUMAR MISHRA, accounts officer, Ghaziabad municipal corporation
GHAZIABAD: The Ghaziabad municipal corporation said in order to maintain cleanliness in public toilets people using them will now have to remove their footwear at the entrance of the facility and will have to wear slippers provided by the facilities’ caretaker.
The corporation officials said the new initiative has been rolled out all the 152 odd public toilets in the city including the Pink toilets meant exclusively for women. The Pink toilets were built last year as part of preparations made under the Swachh Survekshan 2019 survey.
The officials said a set of five different-sized pairs of slippers have been provided at all the public toilets.
“We have brought in the new step as those who use public toilets come in the facility with their footwear and end up bringing a lot of dust inside leading to dirtiness inside the toilets. The caretaker is always on the move to clean the floors in the toilets. To avoid this and to maintain cleanliness, the new measure has been introduced,” Arun Kumar Mishra, corporation’s accounts officer and nodal officer for the Swachh Survekshan – 2020, said.
“We have provided five pairs of different-sized slippers, ranging from those which can be worn by children to those which can be worn by adults. The caretaker will provide these to visitors using the facility and will also get the slippers cleaned at regular intervals,” he added.
The move is, however, under criticism from councillors.
Councillor Rajendra Tyagi said the usage of a single pair of slippers by several persons during the entire day will lead to unhygienic conditions.
“Slippers provided at the public toilet which are to be worn by dozens of people throughout the day will create unhygienic situations. Instead, the corporation should provide more doormats at these facilities, so that everyone enters the toilet with clean footwear. Further, they have not provided any bench or chair on which a person can sit and tie or untie their footwear. So the new measure by the corporation is impractical,” Tyagi added.