Bhubaneswar, Sept. 3: The municipal corporation is planning to construct standalone public urinals in the city after increasing the number of public and community toilets here to almost double.

The plan came up during a high-level meeting on Swachh Bharat Mission (urban) organised by the housing and urban development department late last month. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has been asked to explore the option of installing the facilities after conducting a feasibility survey.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said the civic body had inaugurated 23 toilets recently and would be opening more such facilities in the future.

'The city has a population of more than 10 lakh people and even with the introduction of the new facilities, we will have just more than 200 such toilets in the next three years,' said Jena, adding that there was a need to explore various options for introducing such facilities to the people. 'The standalone urinals will be for men because they will be open structures. We will identify places where such facilities could be introduced.'

Women are now able to use the public and community toilets. Several public places such as Old Bus Stand and Baramunda Bus Stand have these partitioned open urinals. But these are difficult to use because of the lack of maintenance, which results in stench and overall unhygienic condition.

'These urinals are almost broken and the stench is unbearable. People urinate in the open rather than using those because they are so dirty. If the civic body builds more such urinals, they should ensure they are maintained properly,' said Sitaram Hota, who frequents the Baramunda bus stand.

Earlier this year, the municipal corporation had come up with plans to put up flexy toilets at different parts of the city. 'We have decided to convert discarded vehicles into mobile or flexy toilets. The plan is under consideration and once we get the vehicles and the final approval from the government, we will go ahead with the project,' said a senior civic body official.

The municipal corporation threw open 23 new public and community toilets at various parts of the city last month, taking the total number of such facilities to 88.

Dibyansh Hota, a resident of Damana, said the civic body's efforts were laudable. He said: 'We now have public toilets at most parts of the city. I hope the civic body continues providing such conveniences to the citizens.'