The ‘she-toilet’ project being implemented by the Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation Ltd (KSWDC) will be extended to more destinations, including Kozhikode, Malappuram, Pala and Pathanapuram, during the second phase.

To put an end to the health issues of women commuters, due to the absence of clean and hygienic toilets in public places, electronic toilets for women were installed in 23 locations here two months ago. Majority of these toilets are running successfully.

Kerala which ranks high on many women-specific development indicators such as health, education, employment, political participation and decision making took up the issue in an innovative manner.

‘She-toilet’, a first-of-its-kind innovative initiative in the country, was a remarkable move from the Corporation to resolve the issue that poses a major health threat to many women visitors and office-goers in the state.

KSWDC further intends to extend the installation of she-toilets to all the districts in the state. The automatic, unmanned, she-toilets are based on cost-effective and environment-friendly technology, combining multiple appropriate technologies.

She-toilets are eco-friendly. The entire waste decomposing is done through bio enzymes and the used water is recycled for future use.

She-toilets are mobile and comes fully equipped with baby changing stations (diaper- changing facilities), sanitary napkin vending machines and incinerators along with self- washing and sterilisation functions.

Further, the toilets also have common facilities such as automatic payment collection, automatic door opening, ‘busy’ and ‘free’ display boards and an automatic platform cleaning system.

The operations would be controlled and monitored from a remote location using GPRS technology.

Automatic SMS alerts would be received by the control room in case of emergencies such as exhaustion of water tanks or filling up of septic tanks.