ALAPPUZHA: In the digital age, finding essential services like hotels, railway stations, or bus stations is often just a click away. However, locating a public toilet can still be a challenge. Thanks to the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), this task has become significantly easier in the Alappuzha district.
The district has successfully mapped over 85 public toilets using the Google Toilet Locator and the My Toilet App. This initiative ensures that travellers, whether for tourism or business, can easily locate washrooms throughout the district.
The tracking system is set to expand to all districts across the state, with the ‘Take A Break’ facilities in local bodies also being integrated into this network. The successful implementation of this project has earned the district unit of the Suchitwa Mission an award for excellence in the SBM’s Clean Toilet Campaign.
According to K E Vinod Kumar, district coordinator, Suchitwa Mission, around 85 public toilets renovated or cleaned using the funds of SBM can be located on the app.
“We are planning to include more toilets, which are under maintenance and will be included in the app soon. The ‘My Toilets App’ is exclusively to identify toilets in the country,” Vinod Kumar said.
The app was developed by the Union government under the SBM (Urban) 2.0 project. As part of the project, a ‘Clean Toilet Challenge’ was launched in 2023.
“It was aimed at developing toilet facilities in the country. Under the project, toilets across India are now using smart technologies, efficient operation and maintenance, additional safety features for women, terrain-specific designs of community toilets and public toilets to ensure complete access to quality sanitation services,” he said.
Under the campaign, 48 public toilets and 75 school toilets were renovated in Alappuzha in the first phase. The public toilets were graded with the help of Kudumbashree members and given a special colour code, the Suchitwa Mission district coordinator said. “Caretakers were appointed for 31 toilets in the district. Rs 54 lakh was spent on toilet development by the Alappuzha, Cherthala, Haripad, Chengannur and Kayamkulam municipalities. In addition, Rs 57 lakh was allocated in the subsequent phase by the local self-government intuitions of the district for repair or renovation of public and school toilets, Vinod Kumar said.
My Toilet App
Intended to maintain the required level of cleanliness and timely upkeep of the community and public toilets across the country, My Toilet App is designed and developed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban. This app is designed for the caretaker of community/public toilets, to mark attendance, and seek feedback from users. The caretaker has to mark the attendance at least twice a day and take feedback from users at least once in two hours.
Toilets constructed under Swachh Bharat Mission
Public Toilets 972
Community Toilets 51