Rundown Public Toilets-1
Only 69 for over 1 crore, many shut or unusable
A well-furnished public toilet in Suhrawardy Udyan is not open for the public at all. It remains under lock and key and is preserved for the high officials taking a stroll in the park in the morning.Photo: STAR
Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) has set up only 69 public toilets for more than One crore people of the city but about half of the toilets are either closed or unusable at present, resulting in immense sufferings of the city dwellers when outside home. In recent years, DCC set up 38 public toilets, mostly at parks and inter-district bus and launch terminals. While selecting the places the authorities overlooked some of the busiest points where people have to wait for a long time. DCC has not set up any public toilets at Farmgate crossing, one of the busiest places of the city. One public toilet is located at the west corner of Shaheed Anwara Park, about half a kilometer from the Farmgate intersection. There was another public toilet on the road island in front of Ananda Cinema but DCC recently demolished it for beautification of the road. Expressing frustration, a traffic sergeant on duty at Farmgate said due to absence of public toilet all the traffic sergeants and constables deployed there have to suffer immensely. “There is no way when a call of nature comes,” he said. “I have to stay here for several hours every day and when I am uniformed I cannot go to open places,” said the sergeant. “It's a difficult situation.” This correspondent on Wednesday evening found a young man rushing towards the wall of the Bangladesh Jute Corporation building in front of the Jatiya Press Club. The man said finding no toilet at Farmgate he boarded a Motijheel-bound bus but he was forced to get off the bus at Press Club to answer the call of nature. Due to absence adequate number of public toilet such public sufferings are regular at busy points, said an official of DCC. He said there is no public toilet on the whole Satmasjid Road and the long stretch from Science Laboratory to Kalyanpur on the Mirpur Road. The maiden public toilet near Science Laboratory on this busy road is located between Dhaka College and New Super Market. DCC constructed most of the public toilets at bus terminals, parks and kitchen markets but did not consider the public gatherings at bus stops and other busy points like Motijheel business hub, the DCC official said. He said DCC has no survey on the demand for public toilets in the city. On the DCC initiative to solve public toilet problem, he said, “Files of setting up new toilets are moving from one table to another since last two years.” Asked about the closed or pitiable condition of the toilets, he cited improper maintenance, lack of lesses and legal tangles. About the odd locations of the newly constructed toilets, Shawkat Ali, chief health officer of DCC, said floating people in the city face the toilet problem most. The 38 toilets have been constructed under a health project giving priority to the floating people's need. He said DCC has funds for constructing at least 40 more public toilets but it is difficult to get land for setting up new ones.
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