COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) is facing criticism from the public over the poor maintenance of public toilets across the city. There are over 360 public restrooms managed by the civic body across 100 wards in five zones of the city. The majority of these toilets lack hygiene due to lack of maintenance. The CCMC head office at Town Hall also lacks a proper public toilet facility.
Sources revealed that a contract was given to private players to clean and maintain the public toilets at the cost of Rs 6.24 crore a year. However, a majority of them failed to maintain them, forcing residents to demand the CCMC take necessary action.
“Not even a single public toilet in the city is kept clean by the civic body. All corporation toilets have a stinking smell and people can’t even enter them. Throughout the year, these restrooms remain in the same unhygienic condition and none of the officials seem to be bothered about it,” said N Jagdeesh, a passenger.
There are ready-made toilets called ‘Namma Toilet’, which are alternatives to regular toilets made of bricks and stones, at various spots across the city including the CCMC head office. However, those are also not maintained properly.
Speaking to TNIE, CCMC commissioner M Prathap said, “There are certain issues in maintaining public restrooms and contractors who were responsible for the poor condition of the toilets have been removed. We shall be sorting out the issue soon. As far as Namma Toilets are concerned, the company which established them must maintain them. But they didn’t. So we are planning on taking a collective measure for all the toilets. We shall check feasibility and take necessary action soon.”