However, some new community latrines with modern facilities are expected to be launched across the city this month, which hopefully would improve the situation.

"I am away from the house almost for the entire day and it is also a long way from my working place. Even then I try not to go inside public toilets as they are dirty and not fit for civilised people to use," said Maksuda Parvin, an employee of a private company at Karwan Bazar who lives in Uttara.

"I do not use these toilets unless it is an emergency. There is no privacy as most of the doors can not be locked properly," said Gulshan Ara Begum, a student of Dhaka University.

The public toilet near the second gate of the New Market has polythene sheets instead of curtains or coloured glass to cover the windows. It also has no running water. People carry water from a drum kept outside. Most of the other public toilets also have the same problems.

The leaseholders of the public toilets are reluctant to improve the conditions and are more interested in renting out adjacent space for parking rickshaws or setting up makeshift tea-stalls. Drug addicts and anti-social elements also roam around public toilets near the Kamalapur Railway Station, Basiruddin Park, Nababganj, Gulistan, Kaptanbazar and Gabtoli.

Naturally, these toilets are unapproachable for women.

Cleaners employed by the leaseholders said that it was not possible to keep the toilets clean all the time because hundreds of people use them.

There are some 69 public toilets under the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) including 38 situated inside shopping centres, but only 20 of them are useable. It is difficult to understand why the toilets are in such poor state as the DCC reportedly earns between Tk 30 to Tk 35 lakh from the leaseholders, according to DCC sources.

"Although they are contract-bound to keep the toilets clean, leaseholders do not care. On the other hand, it is not possible for the DCC to send inspection teams everyday," said a high official of the DCC

"We have faced many problems in setting up new toilets. To get the required land is a major hurdle. In some areas local political leaders and even ward commissioners have forcibly stopped our work." he added.

The DCC in association with the Urban Primary Health Care Project (UPHCP) under the LGRD (Local Government and Rural Development) ministry, is set to open 36 community latrines this month with modern facilities for all and especially for women.

"There will be high and low commodes and urinals, basins, breast-feeding and dressing rooms in these toilets. There will be separate entrances for men and women also," said Sultan Ahmed, executive engineer of UPHCP.