Dearth of public toilets in Nellore

Nellore: People visiting the Nellore city from rural areas are facing difficulties in the absence of adequate public toilets. Nellore is a two-tier city with 4-lakh population. Around 5,000-7,000 people visit the city for business purpose or to complete their daily tasks on a daily basis. People are relying on toilets located in bus complexes and limited Sulabh Complexes where sanitary conditions are horrible.

The number of available toilets in the city are not adequate to meet the demand. Around 1,250 villages in the district have been declared as Open Defecation Free (ODF), still the Nellore is lagging behind in providing toilets for people coming from outside the city.

There are few public toilets maintained by the private organisers in the city, who are charging Rs 5, but they are limited. Women especially from rural areas feel shy to utilise public toilets in Nellore as there are no separate toilets for them. Officials of the Nellore Municipal Corporation failed to mount pressure on the commercial and private establishments to construct enough toilets for keeping the city hygienic.

‘Public toilets maintained by private management at Nartaki Theatre Centre are not hygienic. Even though, they are collecting Rs 2 and Rs 5 for the facility. People are forced to complete their nature calls in the open places diluting the spirit of Swachh Bharat programme,’ said a trader, who runs the shop in the area. The Union Ministry of Urban Development had announced results of Swachh Bharat ranks in 2017 and the district bagged 165th position.

Further, majority municipal parks in the city are not having toilet facility. City was earlier having parks and leisure places and they gradually disappeared due to urbanisation where shopping malls, commercial complexes and other structures have come up. Only few parks in the city are having toilet facilities such as children’s park, people’s park in Haranathapuram.

Civic officials say they are planning to arrange temporary toilets at Ayyappa Temple locality, Vedayapalem, Rajarajeswari temple, Current Office centre, KVR Petrol Pump, RTC Complex, Madras bus stand centre, VRC Centre, Gandhi Statue Centre, Nartaki Theatre Centre and at Bose Statue Centre.

“Even though, many companies and industries are coming forward to support Swachh Bharat as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility, no organisation is coming forward to adopt a toilet or constructing them for convenience of the visiting population. This has to be promoted by the administration,” said R Krishna Murthy, a retired employee from Panchayat Raj department.