Commuters to or from Mango, the steel city's gateway to capital Ranchi, can now heave two big sighs of relief.

From August, men on the move would not have to pee on the road and nor would women go blue in the face trying to control themselves. Also, when rain catches commuters unawares, they can take safe cover.

Local urban body Mango Notified Area Committee (MNAC) waking up rather belatedly, has nevertheless taken up the most welcome construction of 13 public urinals and 11 passenger sheds on a war footing. The infrastructure will be ready by July-end, it is being hoped.

Mango, on the banks of Subernarekha, has a bridge and two roads - Purulia Road and Dimna Road - linking the city with NH-33 to reach Ranchi, and neighbouring states Odisha and Bengal. However, it did not have a single public urinal alongside any road. It also had only three passengers sheds built by former Jamshedpur MP Ajoy Kumar in 2013-14.

MNAC special officer Jagadish Prasad Yadav told The Telegraph that work to construct urinals and passenger sheds would be over by July-end.

"We had started our work in June-end. We are hoping work is over by this month. We cleared the proposal long ago but it took time to finalise tenders and remove encroachments to get the construction going. Work began with separate contractors for passengers shed and public urinals with a July-end deadline. People can use the them from August," he said, adding the MNAC would maintain the facilities.

Each passenger shed, a concrete structure of 18x9sqft with a corrugated roof, is being built at a cost of Rs 2.25 lakh. The sheds will have iron railing and glow signboards displaying numbers of local thanas and the police control room. People can sit on brick structures covered with tiles. Sheds will also have lights.

The 13 public urinals will each cost Rs 92,000. Each urinal of 20x8sqft will have two seats for men and a fully covered sub-unit for women as well as taps.

Small wonder Mango residents are delighted. "We have grown up seeing people pee on roads. Hopefully now, this will change. It's great for women too, if the urinal is secure," said Shashank Sinha, who studies at Jamshedpur Workers' College and resident of Dimna Road, Mango. "The sheds are a great idea for students like us," he added. "Not everyone travels in cars."

 

Give tips to MNAC to maintain and secure the facilities, especially women's toilets, at ttkhand@abpmail.com