One seat in every toilet complex reserved for differently abled in Delhi

The Delhi Urban Shelter improvement Board (DUSIB), which is constructing toilet complexes across the city, will provide the facility of ramp and wheelchair for differently abled.

Differently abled persons will be able to use community toilet as the Delhi government has decided to reserve one seat for them in every toilet complex in the city. This seat will be designed separately to suit the requirement of the differently abled. The Delhi Urban Shelter improvement Board (DUSIB), which is constructing toilets across the city, will also provide the facility of ramp and wheelchair in the complexes.

In old toilet complexes, where construction is not possible, the agency is installing western seats so that differently abled individuals can use these.

In old toilet complexes, where construction is not possible, the agency is installing western seats so that differently abled individuals can use these. Installation of community toilets is one of the key projects of the AAP government in Delhi. Till now the AAP government has installed 7,000 toilet seats and wants to add 7000 more before March, the likely date of municipal elections.

“Special arrangements have been made for Divyangs and ramps are provided in all toilet complexes. After suggestions from the civil society, it is now mandatory to have one reserved seat in every complex,” a DUSIB official said.

The DUSIB is also focusing on hygiene and the specifications adopted for toilets have also been improved by providing ceramic tiles up to lintel height inside toilets. It has also provided tap water to in toilet complexes.

There are 675 jhuggi jhopri (JJ) clusters in Delhi in which three lakh families are living and at present, DUSIB is managing 544 toilet complexes with 14,956 WC seats out of which 473 complexes with are functional and 71 are under renovation in phased manner.

“DUSIB has launched a drive to improve the quality of maintenance, repair, and upgradation of the existing toilets. For the purpose of proper maintenance, each toilet complex has been assigned a unique identity and an app has been launched for feedback,” the official added.

Some toilet complexes have been taken over from the MCD and are in dilapidated state.

DUSIB is constructing new toilets at one seat for 30 persons as per Swachh Bharat Mission norms to make slums open defecation free. It has also carried out a survey with the help of its engineering team which went around in all the JJ Bastis from 5AM to 8 AM on three consecutive days and 253 open defecation spots were identified.

Accordingly, a gap analysis was carried out and more than 15,000 toilet seats are required to make JJ Bastis open defecation free. There are three types of toilets in the city — individual, which is constructed by different agencies, community, which are in slums and maintained by DUSIB and public toilets, which are managed by civic bodies.

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