Greater Mumbai - NGO inputs, Public toilets, Cost recovery

Brihan Mumbai Municiple Corporation to seek NGOs’ inputs on spots for public toilets

By Sharvari Patwa, indianexpress.com  January 14th, 2014

The BMC recently began a survey to map all public toilets in the city.

The BMC (Greater Bombay) has planned to invite citizens’ organisations and NGOs to help in identifying locations to construct public toilets in the city.

“We have planned to construct more public toilets and invite NGOs to run these public toilets based on the requirements put forth by citizens’ groups,” said a senior civic official from the solid waste management department.

The BMC recently began an extensive survey to map all public toilets in the city. The civic body will also survey properties of other public agencies such as the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and Public Works Department (PWD) to account for the public toilets in their areas.

In a city constantly on the move, where an average person travels a considerable distance to and from his workplace, a glaring gap is seen in the most basic public utility — toilets for people on the go.

As per BMC data, as of May 2012, for the 1.3 crore residents of Mumbai, there were only 836 public toilet blocks (excluding public toilets in slums) having a total of 10,381 toilet seats, 2,849 urinals and 842 bathrooms. This means that a single toilet seat caters to 1,250 Mumbaikars even as authorities admit the city needs a minimum of 35,000 public toilet seats. NGOs’ estimates peg the figure at 50,000 seats.

To stop open defecation, civic body collects data on public toilets

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To Improve sanitation facilities in the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is conducting a survey of spots/areas that require public toilets. Following the state government's directive to eradicate open defecation, the civic body is counting public toilets in the city to assess further requirements.

It has already surveyed 15 wards. "There are about 4,500 toilets in the city according to our preliminary round of survey, out of which 65-70 per cent are for men and the rest are for women," said an official.

"We are taking a count of toilet blocks in the city for both women and men," said B P Patil, Chief Engineer, Solid Waste Management. Based on the data, more toilets will be constructed under the Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project.

"The state government has given a directive to stop open defecation in cities. We are studying and recording areas and places where open defecation takes place and based on the data collected, we will prepare a report of how many toilets are required," said Patil. According to Patil, the data collected will primarily include number of toilets available along the railway stations and railway lines.

"Open defecation is common outside railway stations and along tracks. Slum population living along the tracks and commuters use the open space for unrination," said an official involved in the project.

He added, "While there is a dire need to construct more public toilets in the city, there is no detailed data available on the existing toilets blocks. The survey would include number of pay-and-use toilets around railway stations, their exact locations, ownership of land, which NGO is running it and if there is a need to upgrade the facilities."

The BMC has also started the process of surveying the Eastern and Western Express Highways to find out spots where sanitation facilities are needed the most.

BMC to recover cost from agencies through property tax

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After offering its services to state and central government land-owning agencies, such as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT), and the Indian Railways, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will now forcibly collect garbage from publicly-owned areas.

A circular from the civic body's solid waste management department states that the cost for garbage collection from public land will be recovered by raising the property tax for state and central government land-owning agencies.

"We had given these public and private land owners the option of using our services based on a basic fee structure. However, except for MMRDA, no one approached us. They said it is the BMC's duty to collect garbage from their properties," said a senior civic official.

"Uncollected garbage is causing a problem to citizens. We are now going to enforce collection and increase the agencies' property tax as payment. We are issuing a circular to them in this regard," he added.

Till April, the BMC collected garbage only from public roads and door-to-door points. It was not responsible for garbage on land owned by agencies such as MbPT, MMRDA, MHADA and railway lines. At a civic standing committee meeting last November, Additional Municipal Commissioner Mohan Adtani proposed to offer the civic garbage collection services at a basic fee.

The proposal was formalised when Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte, in his budget proposal for the current fiscal year, set aside over Rs 2 crore for the purpose. This was "to achieve the service level benchmark of 100 per cent for household collection" in BMC's cleanliness programme for the city.

The commissioner also said a proposal was being sought to amend Section 365 (A) of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act of 1886 (which pertains to cleaning all streets of the city), so that service costs can be recovered in lieu of clearing areas.