Pune entrepreneurs transform scrapped buses into mobile toilets for women
PUNE: Two entrepreneurs from Pune have converted scrapped city buses into mobile toilets for women, which are powered by the sun.
The toilet on wheels called 'Ti Swachatagruha', an initiative by Ulka Sadalkar and Rajeev Khar features other facilities including a breastfeeding room, a diaper changing station, a small canteen on the other side and a panic button in case of emergency.
At a charge of Rs 5, any woman can avail of the services of the mobile lavatories.
Sanitary pads and other sanitary products are also available on the mobile toilets that run on solar panels mounted on top of the vehicles, all scrapped buses of the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd.
"We wanted to give a high standard toilet even for the sweeper on the road. So any woman using the toilet; be it a woman sweeping the road, travelling by bus or car, they all have a right to a good quality toilet," Ulka Sadalkar, owner of the scrapped buses, told ANI.
The idea, says Sadalkar started as an initiative by Pune Municipal Commissioner Kunal Kumar in 2016. It started out with four pink buses under the banner "Toilet for Her" and is now all set to reach over 20 cities across the country.
"They wanted to provide toilets for women and we had means and ways to do it. Right now in Pune there are 12 operational and almost 20 in pipeline," Sadalkar said.
Presently there are total 12 such on wheels washrooms functional across Pune city.
The pilot project for Karnataka is all set to start on the occasion of women's day on Sunday at Bengaluru airport. Apart from this several other city like Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Nagpur, etc are also in pipeline.
Detailing the process of how the scrapped bus is converted into toilets, she explained, "When the bus comes to the factory, it is completely struck down. Whatever can be maintained of the scrap bus, can be maintained because we just don't want to throw stuff -- the whole idea is to recycle and reuse. The design is ready with us."
Apart from the mobile toilets, Sadalkar said there are plans to set up diagnostic centres where women can get urine diagnostics for just Rs 5 on an immediate basis.