Bhubaneswar, Aug. 9: The municipal corporation has achieved the target of extending quality civic services to citizens by increasing the number of public toilets to almost double in a year.
A year ago, the city had 65 public toilets, but now the number has increased to 124 with the introduction of 58 new such facilities. Work on the toilets is already on the verge of completion, while the civic body is in the process of extending water and electricity supply to the structures.
"We have taken the challenge and fixed a target to construct 70 new public toilets in a year. We have already reached mid-way and the work on the rest of the structure is going on fast track. We will introduce the new facilities to the citizens by the end of this year," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.
Jena said the construction of 58 such structures was complete, while efforts were on to extend water and electricity supply to the facilities. "We have already applied for the water and electricity connection. Authorities are conducting field visits and providing the connection in a phased manner," said the mayor.
In May last year, the civic body entered into an agreement with Sulabh International for construction of over 150 hybrid toilets in three years. This project was to be executed under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) scheme.
Under another scheme - Project Samman - the civic body planned to construct 26 public toilets across the city. A senior civic body official said that initially there was problem with land acquisition for the toilets, but it was resolved.
"We get repeated directions from the housing and urban development department to come up with alternative solutions for timely completion of the project. We have done so by selecting alternative land and succeeded. Now, almost all toilets under Project Samman are on the verge of completion," the official said.
Residents applauded the proactive action of the civic body.
"There was a time when we had to search for miles to find a public toilet in the city. But that has now changed," said Niranjan Mishra, a resident of GGP Colony.
