The ‘Swachh’ target of constructing 425 individual toilets in the
limits of Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) is unlikely to be achieved.
Mysuru lost crucial marks in this parameter (individual toilets) since
it failed to complete the construction in time, thus losing out in
overall marks.

MCC authorities claim to have built 350 toilets so
far and are finding it difficult to build the remaining 75 for a strange
reason — lack of space in the households.

When MCC did a survey
at households that lacked toilets, the house owners had expressed their
readiness to have one. When the MCC authorities were ready to build
them, lack of space was the hindrance.

Lack of space

This was confirmed to
The Hindu
by MCC Commissioner G. Jagadeesha, who is now planning to write to the
Union Ministry of Urban Development and urge it to consider 350 toilets
as the target. “Where can we build toilets when there is no space in
their households?” he asked.

The beneficiaries had given their consent for the toilets and accordingly the list was prepared for construction.

“The
technical problem is that there is no space in their homes for the
toilets,” he said. The Commissioner said Mysuru will surely get the
marks set aside for individual toilets in the next survey since MCC has
fulfilled its tasks.

CSR funds

To a question on how
Mysuru can claim to be “open defecation-free” when some households still
lack individual toilets, he said: “The parameters were different and
cannot be compared. We have community toilets as well. Mysuru is already
an open defecation-free city.”

MCC managed to get funds under
Corporate Social Responsibility for the construction of individual
toilets. “J.K. Tyres came forward to fund the construction of a few
toilets while some were built by us,” he said.

Mr. Jagadeesha said
he has prepared a proposal for presentation to the Directorate of
Municipal Administration on the MCC’s plan to open a Project
Implementation Unit for Swachh Bharat initiatives, including tenders.