Even as the port city is heading towards becoming “smart,” the Mangaluru City Corporation has proposed to build 34 public toilets across the city. This is in addition to the already existing 23 public toilets.
The civic body has proposed to have the new toilets on build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis. The Standing Committee for Public Health, Education and Social Justice of the corporation has given its nod to the proposal. According to Kavita Sanil, chairperson of the standing committee, bids will be invited shortly for the project.
It can be recalled that the proposal had earlier come up before the council of the corporation which had referred it to the committee to take a decision. “There are no land issues in 90 per cent of the places where the proposed toilets will come up. Some land issue cases have been referred to the town planning section of the civic body,” she said.
Of the places identified include some of the important junctions like Nanthoor, Padil, Kavoor, Kottara Chowki, Kavoor, and Mallikatta which are frequented by people but lack public toilets. Moving away from the central business district area, toilets have also been proposed in places like Yekkur Junction, Nandigudda, and Sulthan Bathery. For highway commuters, a toilet has been proposed at Pumpwell.
Ms. Sanil said that the new toilets would be built on BOOT basis owing to issues involved in maintenance. With the city growing and floating population on the rise, there is a need for more public toilets, she said. She said that in addition to the 34 public toilets, the civic body has proposed to build three e-toilets at Lalbagh, Nanthoor Junction, and Kadri Hills near Circuit House. They would have coin-based entry and discharge of water after use will be electronically controlled. Hence there would be no wastage of water.
An official in the health section said that bids for this will be invited shortly.
Meanwhile, the corporation has renovated four existing public toilets in the city. Of them, two have been opened for the public and the remaining two will be opened by the end of this week, an official said.
