Something Goa needs very badly, at most tourist places and important city landmarks..... Any woman traveling in India will know that the best workout for ones quivering glutes is to squat uncomfortably in a public toilet, bottom hovering 1/64th of inch over the toilet bowl, as you desperately avoid contact with the toilet seat. The seat rarely has a cover and when it does, it is so decorated with spots and stains that it makes your stomach churn. Indian toilets fare better, because there is less chance of contact, but hygiene standards are the same - conspicuous by their absence! Mind you, we are the lucky women. We at least have an access to public toilets! What about the millions of women whose work involves spending long hours on the road? Traveling saleswomen, medical representatives, lady cops, menial workers, municipal sweepers, women who dont have the economic means to go to a restaurant just because they want to use the toilet. Once I met a woman in a Mumbai local who sold cosmetics door-to-door. She told me that in the eight hours or so that she spent on the road daily, she drank less than one litre of water! All because she wanted to minimise the need to urinate. She had developed multiple health problems because of this. What can we do? We dont have the money to buy a cup of coffee in a restaurant every time we want to use the toilet, and there are not enough public toilets, she had said, wringing her hands. The condition of public toilets, even paid public toilets in India is terrible. The flush seldom works. The bins are overflowing and the cubicles are often so dirty that its makes one vomit just to look at them! I was extremely happy when PM Modi had mentioned in his speech, that India needs toilets more than temples, a thought also expressed by Jairam Ramesh of the Congress party. It is a welcome move by the Chennai Municipal Corporation to install some 350 Namma Toilets in Chennai. These are well-designed, prefabricated kiosks that are completely solar powered! Apart from the latrines and urinals, the toilets have separate wash basins and bore well connections. The solar batteries get charged during the day and in the night, every time the door is opened, the light comes on automatically. There are disposal bins for used sanitary napkins. Many such toilets are already functional in the state of Tamil Nadu. I hope other states too follow suit. We are a civilisation that invented a sophisticated urban sewage system! Let us not forget that. © Shefali Vaidya
Posted on: Mon, 16 Jun 2014 14:00:47 +0000
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