In a much welcomed move on International Toilets Day, the six 
bio-toilets in the city that are defunct owing to poor maintenance, have
finally found some caretakers.

The recently-launched women’s wing
of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has expressed interest in
taking up the toilets and funding for its maintenance. The biotoilets
were installed by the Kochi Corporation with much fanfare.

The
women’s wing, known as ‘Indian Women’s Network (IWN)’, which was
launched in previous April, told ‘City Express’ that they are willing to
take the lead in revamping city’s bio-toilets.

“The bio-toilets
in the city were built a few years ago but has been not  functioning for
sometime now owing to ill maintenance. They are in a very bad
condition. We are willing to repair them and maintain them for the next
five years. If the Corporation is willing, the IWN can pool in funds
from the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of various companies for
the maintenance of these toilets,” said Anuradha Ganesh who coordinates
IWN activities in Kerala.

She said the IWN considers this as an
important step towards helping career women in their day-to-day life.
“Cleanliness and hygiene of public toilets are directly related to the
health and other aspects in the life of career women. At present, there
are no proper signboards before the toilets. Only a very few uss it now
which has led to the shut down of most of them, despite the fact that
Kochi is having a serious shortage of pay-and-use toilets,” Anuradha
said.

She added that the IWN is moving forward to officially make a proposal to the Corporation in this regard.

The
six bio-toilets at Fort Kochi, Vytilla, Kacheripady, North Town Hall
and Palarivattom were purchased at a cost of Rs 7 lakh by the Kochi
Corporation.

Apart from compensating for the crude shortage of
public toilets in the city, they were also meant to spread awareness
about eco-friendly technology. 

The toilets were also mired in a
financial controversy which led the Corporation taking action against
its officials to recover revenue loss due to the official’s dereliction
of duty.

When contacted Mayor Tony Chammany said the IWN had
informally met him with this proposal but has not submitted it
officially. “It remains a fact that our bio-toilets are very badly
maintained. The local body has several roadblocks to address these
issues, including financial shortage. So any proposal in this regard is
most welcome and will be considered in its merit,” said Mayor.