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June 04, 2005
State of public toilets in Indian society
Abstract: Author tries to highlight the appalling state of toilets in public places in India; also proposes if and what can be done about it.
TOC:
* The immensity of the problem
* State of things
* What can be done ?
* Can it be done ?
The immensity of the problem
Imagine you are traveling through an Indian city and suddenly you have to attend to a nature call. Look around to find a nearest toilet. Either you would not find enough toilets in public places or whatever you find is really in bad condition.
What is the nature and root cause of such a bad state of affairs as far as the toilets in public spaces are concerned ?
Recently the author has heard of a poignant story of a rural visitor to Hyderabad city trying to find an urinal for his pregnant wife. They had to walk around for couple of miles after being turned around in few restaurants. Finally the man had to stand guard while she relieved in a corner of a street. This incident makes me really uncomfortable on our achievements as a nation when we couldn't address probably a silly but such an important civilized requirement. The state of toilets in public places really shows the mark of a civilized society.
Public toilets along with drainage and sewage systems express the state of the civilization. What use is to boast if the ancient Harappa had public sewage system while I can't to find a decent place to urinate in 21st century Bombay.
Whatever the toilets you find in few places, the state of their maintenance including cleanliness, flushing, water availability and graffiti on them is shameful. I am not sure of what kind of a feeling a foreign traveler would go through when he visits a public toilet in India, but I am sure this is not an acceptable situation for our own citizens at home. This is not just a question of aesthetics and convenience but also the question of health risks.
Probably relieving by the side of road is better alternative to most of the men, but what about women population ? Even today, most of the rural folks still don't use toilets at home but rather head towards woods with water tumbler in hand. Though my focus in the current article is limited to public places in urban settings, we still need to address the rural toilet issue but probably in a different article.
State of things
Currently some of the railway stations and bus stations have implemented "pay per use" toilets. The reason for payment they put forward is that the payment lets them achieve a clean environment. The first question propping in most people is why do we need to pay. Aren't we paying for the bus service/train service already which discount the usage of toilets? Even though the idea of fee for usage is irritating for most people, probably this is the first step.
Some of state governments have tried the concept of Sulabh Complex; the idea is to open up more number of toilets & bathrooms all over the city for use at a fee. Probably this needs to go to next step.
Other positive direction is where the high end shops and high end restaurants are opening up toilets in their facilities. But these still don't address adequately the needs since I am arguing for everybody and not just for rich class of consumers.
What can be done ?
What can be done ? A great lot can be done. The first proposal is to pass a law mandating any business working in public domain to provide toilet facilities. What I mean by public domain is that any business dealing with goods & service offerings to public. Probably this does not include a factory which has closed premises for its employees. The list would include any public place like shops, petrol bunks, restaurants, movie theaters, hospitals and even the non-commercial temples.
The law should allow for grace period by which all businesses should implement or a time table for a phased implementation. But after the law kicks in, there is no excuse but to withdraw the licenses for businesses which don't comply.
Again, the facilities are not meant only to their customers but for any by-passers too on the street. Any business which does not discriminate between the class of customers should not also discriminate the usage of toilets.
The law should allow "right to toilet usage". The law should allow any by-passers to use the toilet of your business on a fair use policy. They could even file a legal complaint for not keeping it clean. The semantics of "fair use" could be tricky but these can be worked out.
One concern we may hear is that, if we open the gates for everybody, how should a business get a sense of control ? Aren't the people from the street going to spoil it ? Probably yes and probably no. But a business can not discriminate based on whether a customer buys some goods or services from them for the usage of toilet. Another thing to note is that the toilet usage etiquette (eg. not writing on walls, flushing properly etc) would increase if only people get to find more and more toilets in public places.
Let us measure the "number of public toilets per thousand of population", not just the "number of telephones per thousand of population".
Another concern people can raise is why should the businesses pay for such service. Well, the businesses are not paying for them. It is you, the consumer who is paying for them by purchasing stuff from the businesses. Business shall extract that extra expense finally out of your pocket. Well, what does it mean ? It means that things you buy are going to be bit costly because of small contributions diverted to the toilet maintenance. But this is like any other public "common-greater-good" project.
Instead of mandating by law, can't we let the market place to determine based on the customer base ? Probably yes, but nothing short of government law is going to fix the problem effectively.
Can it be done ?
Yes, it can be done as long as the leadership shows the vision and will to do it.
As an inspiration, look at "Americans with Disabilities Act" of 1990. Among so many other provisions, this act mandated all businesses to provide access to wheelchairs in every floor and every building no matter what. Lot of businesses had resistance but they had to implement any way at huge economic and social cost. Well, one could start with usual skepticism that we are Indians and not Americans.
Well, great problems warrant greater solutions. Just imagine, how would you feel peeping into an alternative future where such thing has already been accomplished in India ? For myself, I would feel good & proud..
Posted by Melody at June 4, 2005 08:58 PM