CHENNAI: The Swachch Survekshan 2018 list shows that the city has moved up from 235th rank to 100th rank, but the 800-odd public toilets which supposedly cater to more than 65 lakh Chennaiites have few takers.
“Public toilets stink”, “They are not clean”, “I’m scared I’ll fall sick if I enter one” — the reasons given by public for not using public toilets haven’t changed over the years. This issue was reinforced through a six-month-long survey and social audit conducted by Dhagam Foundation, an NGO that works towards women-centric issues in the city.
Through their awareness programme, ‘Kakkoos-A-Kanom’ more than 50 volunteers surveyed the condition of around 600 public and private toilets in railway stations, bus stands and public spaces across 15 zones in the city. Through the social audit they found that most existing toilets are either poorly maintained by the civic body, rendering them dysfunctional, or are locked making them inaccessible to the public.
Manali, Kasimedu, Thiruvattiyur and other localities in North Chennai had the lowest ratio of number of toilets to the number of people, said volunteers. “In these areas, for 500 families only six to ten toilets are available to use. We also observed that women over 40 years did not hesitate to defecate in the open. Girls who have just attained puberty in the ages between 13 and 17 were the ones who were most affected by the lack of sanitation,” said Mahalakshmi, a volunteer.
Of the 1,300-odd people who took part in the survey, close to 50 per cent said they will not use public toilets to relieve themselves. Of 500 women who answered the survey, most said that they won’t use public toilet as there are no facilities to change and dispose of sanitary pads/tampons. According to women respondents, 60 per cent cited sanitary-pad changing facilities as an important feature all public toilets must have.
Broken toilet bowls, lack of running tap water, lights, signages to indicate their presence, clogged drainage system, and improper maintenance, were the most popular reasons cited by respondents.
On the other hand, around 700 respondents, both women and men agreed that a majority of public toilets are unclean and don’t have water. Many toilets have broken doors, which cannot be locked. Approximately 50 respondents, especially women, said they feared being assaulted. “Women in Besant Nagar avoid going alone to relieve themselves in the open before sunrise and after sunset. They feel safer going in groups,” said another volunteer.
