AAP MLA, former MP protest decision to lock public toilets

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, March 17

Protesting the decision to lock public toilets, former MP Prof Sadhu Singh and AAP Kotkpura MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan sat on a dharna against the district administration and the Municipal Committee here on Tuesday.

Five toilets were constructed under MPLAD funds, while four others were built under the Swachh Bharat Mission at a cost of over Rs15 lakh. These toilets have been locked by the MC due to its inability to clean them.

“It is sheer wastage of public funds as men were forced to urinate in the open as public toilets have been locked. What about women for whom it poses a serious health implication,” said Prof Sadhu Singh, who provided Rs10 lakh under the MPLAD scheme to construct five public toilets in various parts of the city.

He said all these toilets had been lying locked for the past over three months. The former MP said the district administration had not responded to his request for opening these toilets.

Besides Prof Sadhu and Sandhwan, party leader Gurdit Singh Sekhon and workers also participated in the dharna in front of a closed public toilet.

A senior MC official reached the spot to pacify the AAP leaders. He expressed his helplessness in providing employees to clean and maintain these toilets. The official said in the absence of cleanliness, they preferred to lock the stinky toilets.

“It is shamelessness on the part of the state government that it has failed to even maintain the already built public toilets. Instead, it continues to make big promises of building castles in the air,” said Sandhwan. Shopkeepers in the area said earlier, they were pooling funds to keep these toilets functional. But now for over three months, these were locked by the civic body, causing inconvenience to residents.