The Patna Municipal Corporation on Tuesday decided to construct 25 new urinals even though similar facilities are lying unused in the city for close to five years now.

Patna already has 90 lavatories, including 32 deluxe toilets, which were constructed around 2009-10. Lack of maintenance has put off people from using them though.

At such a time, the empowered standing committee of the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Tuesday took the decision to build new urinals. The decision was taken at the meeting headed by mayor Afzal Imam.

Apart from the new urinals, the standing committee decided to float tenders for eight categories of sanitation equipment under the much- delayed Patna solid waste management project.

'Tenders for public bins, bobcats and six other categories of sanitation equipment would be floated within a week. We also took a decision to start the bidding process for construction of 25 new lavatories within the same time frame. The urinals would be constructed at prime locations of the city,' said Imam.

Residents are, however, careful not to pin their hopes on the project, as the existing lavatories have fallen prey to ill maintenance.

The deluxe toilets at Gandhi Maidan, near the Income Tax roundabout and Mithapur bus depot among other spots are in complete disarray. Unclean, some of them lack running water. Naturally, these are shunned by people.

Of the 58 general lavatories constructed and maintained by the PMC, 25 are under the civic body's New Capital circle, six under the Kankerbagh circle, 19 under the Bankipore circle and eight under the Patna City circle.

So far as the sanitation equipment are concerned, the civic body's procurement committee on July 14 last year had recommended purchase of six categories of equipment and had asked the empowered standing committee to float fresh tenders for another eight categories. The committee, in its September 3 meeting, approved issuance of the work order for the remaining eight categories, including 21 compactors and 10 earth-moving machines, but the project was delayed thanks to discrepancies in fixing the rates to buy the equipment.

'We decided today (Tuesday) to table the proposal for issuing the work order for procurement of eight categories of equipment in the next meeting of the PMC board,' said mayor Imam.

Members of the standing committee also directed civic body officials to expedite drainage-cleaning works and filing of holding tax returns by private individuals and government agencies. 'A decision to record drainage-cleaning works on video was taken in Tuesday's meeting,' Imam said.