Chandigarh MC’s ₹20-crore public toilet renovation project hits dead end

The dilapidated condition of public toilets, which fall under the ambit of Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC), is unlikely to improve in the near future.

The dilapidated condition of public toilets, which fall under the ambit of Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC), is unlikely to improve in the near future.

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First, the UT administration refused to fund the ₹20-crore project involving construction of 29 new toilets and renovation of 236 existing ones. Now, with even the MC General House saying no to foot the bill for the time being, the ambitious project has hit a dead end.

The MC had brought an agenda in the November 27 General House meeting seeking its approval for the release of funds sought for the project. The councillors, however, deferred the issue to “a more appropriate time in future”. The MC is facing acute fund crunch and struggling to meet its routine expenditure like paying of employees’ salaries.

In bad shape

The public toilets in many residential and market areas, constructed a long time ago, are in urgent need of renovation. Charanjiv Singh, chairman of the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal, said, “The toilets require renovation on priority basis. Some having been built several years ago have broken tiles, or water leaking from the roof, or in general are in bad condition. We have taken up the issue with the MC and are pushing for renovation work to be taken up as soon as possible.”

The condition of the public toilets is even worse in the city’s colonies and villages. There are no local maintenance committees in place for their routine upkeep.

In addition to improving the condition of the toilets, the MC was also hoping to generate revenue through advertisements in the better-designed spaces, which could have made the structures financially self-sustainable.

“One of the necessary infrastructure and regulatory conditions added this year in the ODF++ protocol, under the Swachh Bharat Mission, stipulates that there should be a sustainable financing mechanism from public toilets. MC has to make earnest efforts towards generating revenue from toilet premises. Space has to be earmarked for advertising,” said Vinod Vashisht, convener, City Forum of Residents Welfare Organisations (CFORWO).

Pinning hopes on CSR

Maheshinder Singh Sidhu, councillor and member of the sanitation committee, said, “We have suggested that the MC should explore the option of generating funds under the smart city project. The Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) has already constructed some public toilets in the city.”

Though the MC commissioner and chief executive officer KK Yadav said CSCL will work on the House’s suggestion, he added that it had exhausted its funds on the issue.

The House also suggested that the MC could also consider approaching business houses under corporate social responsibility (CSR). “Some companies have earlier contributed to some of the projects and the MC can again seek their help,” Sidhu added.