Mumbai, May 28 (PTI) Only one in four toilet seats at public conveniences in Mumbai is available for women, a survey report has claimed.
There is one public toilet seat for 752 male users in the country’s financial capital, but when it comes to women, the ratio is one seat for 1,820 users, said the NGO Praja Foundation in its latest `Report on the status of civic issues in Mumbai, 2024′.
The availability of public toilets falls short of what is prescribed under the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), said Eknath Pawar, program coordinator of the NGO, at a press conference.
The Swachh Bharat Mission prescribes one public toilet for 100-400 males and 100-200 females, he said.
“Out of four public toilet seats in Mumbai, three are for male users and only one for female users,” Pawar pointed out.
Further, one `community toilet’ seat in Mumbai serves 86 male users and 81 female users, whereas the SBM prescribes one toilet seat for 35 male users and 25 female users, he said. Community toilet blocks are typically situated in slum areas.
The report also said that as per SBM norms, the existing 82,407 community toilet seats in Mumbai are adequate to serve only a third of the city’s slum population.
Of 6,800 community toilet blocks in Mumbai, 69 percent lack water connection and 60 percent do not have electricity connection.
The report also claimed that complaints of air pollution in Mumbai increased 305 percent from 2019 to 2023, while the quality of air in the city declined by 22 percent during this period.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) prescribes the maximum desirable level of biological oxygen demand (BOD) and fecal coli form in Mumbai’s river, sea, and creek water. But despite seven wastewater treatment plants, all beach outlets in Mumbai record BOD a minimum of two times and a maximum of five levels higher than the desirable norm of 3 mg per liter, the report said. PTI KK KRK
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