Public toilets in Chandigarh to be revamped

The Municipal Corporation has decided to give new look to 10 more public convenience facilities to make them ‘aspirational toilets’ as per the guidelines of the Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0 launched by the Government of India.

Toilets in Sectors 7, 8, 9, 11, 18, 20, 26, 28, 37, 47 and Manimajra will be reconstructed at a cost of nearly Rs 2 crores.

In the first phase, the MC had reconstructed over 20 toilets. The remaining toilets could not be covered due to paucity of fund.

A senior official of the civic body said, “We have again requested the Government of India to release funds for converting the remaining facilities into aspiration toilets.”

The project was launched by the Ministry of Urban Development to improve the sanitary conditions across the country. The SBM 2.0 focuses on sustaining the achievements of SBM 1.0 and ensuring sanitation challenges are resolved to create healthy, sustainable and liveable urban environments.

The aspiration toilets will have modern amenities, including water coolers, sanitary napkin-vending machines, hand dryers and baby diaper changing and feeding rooms.

BJP councillor Mahesh Inder Singh Sidhu had raised the issue of non-completion of remaining toilets during the last meeting of the MC General House while claiming that all toilets in his ward were left out in the first phase of makeover.

The scope of work includes dismantling the existing public toilets and refurbishing them with updated drawings while meeting the ODF standards.

Mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla said they were committed to improving Chandigarh’s rank in Swachh Survekshan.

Chandigarh had made it to the Super Swachh League Cities under the 3 to 10 lakh population category in the Swachh Survekshan 2024–25.