Bhubaneswar, May 17: The municipal corporation has finalised the plan to set up more than 150 hybrid toilet complexes with 1,691 cubicles at key locations of the city by March 2017.
Sulabh International Social Service Organisation will design, build and maintain the complexes, which will be called "Ama Souchalaya". The state housing and urban development department earlier this month had inked a pact with Sulabh for execution of the project.
The proposed toilets are called "hybrid" because both general public and slum dwellers will be able to use these facilities. While the general public will have to pay fixed charges for using these toilets, the slum dwellers will have to buy a monthly family pass for Rs 50.
The hybrid toilet is unique as they need only 300ml of water to flush out slush as compared to 10 to 15 litres required in a standard loo.
The maintenance cost is also minimal. Moreover, the toilet complex will have energy efficient LED lighting system.
The toilet seats will be made of fibre rather than the traditional ceramic. "The material of the toilet seats will be of different kind. This will increase the longevity of the seats. The maintenance will also be easy as fibre seats do not break easily," said Binod Sharma, controller of state for Sulabh International.
According to the plan, there will be three types of toilet complexes, which will have five, seven and 10 cubicles each. The complexes will also have washbasins. Sources said that a 10-cubicle toilet complex will cost the government nearly Rs 25 lakh.
The hybrid toilet project that has been taken up under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) scheme will also be executed in eight other cities - Cuttack, Berhampur, Puri, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Baripada, Balasore and Bhadrak.
The housing and urban development department today organised a workshop to sensitise the officials of all the nine urban local bodies about the drawing up of a master plan for execution of the project.
Sources said that once the sites were identified and handed over by the civic bodies, Sulabh would take 180 days to finish the construction of the complexes.
Bhubaneswar mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said that the main aim was to make the city free of open defecation, which is one of the major objectives of the Swachh Bharat Mission.
"We are already setting up community and public toilets across the city. We are also issuing work orders for construction of individual household latrines. The upcoming hybrid toilets will help us keep the city clean and healthy," said Jena.
At present, the city lags behind several others in providing the basic facility of public and community toilets to the people. According to the World Health Organisation guidelines, there should be one public toilet for every 100 persons.
Accordingly, the city should have nearly 10,000 public toilets for its 10lakh population, but at present it has less than 100.
"There are very few public toilets in the city for such a huge population. The civic body had never bothered about providing this basic facility to the people. I hope the present plan of setting up hybrid toilets will help the city improve its sanitation," said Gyanaranjan Hota, a retired government employee.
