Despite ODF status, MC fails to provide good infra

Tribune News Service
Amritsar, November 19

Despite getting the open defecation free (ODF) status, the practice continues unabated in the city. The efforts to stop open defecation have gone futile as the MC has failed to implement it properly. The MC had proposed to build 23 community toilets in slums and identified 45 locations in the city where public toilets were supposed to be constructed under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. MC officials claimed that they had installed 32 toilet seats so far.

As per the guidelines of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the MC has to construct public toilets after a gap of every 500 metres. But a number of major markets are yet to get the toilet facility.

Nehru Shopping Complex, one of the posh markets on Lawrence Road, has not been provided with the toilet facility. The toilets made by the Amritsar Improvement Trust are not functional. A nearby Sulabh toilet is the only option, which closes in the evening. Security guards, watchmen, vendors and beggars who stay in the night do not have a single toilet and they defecate out in the open in the market.

The other toilet sets installed in various markets are lying locked as the MC has not hired any company to take care of them. Municipal Health Officer Ajay Kanwar said, “We have signed an agreement with a company and they will start their job soon. The city has been declared open-defecation free and we keep check on the activity. We were not aware of the Nehru Shopping Complex. We will check and address the issue.