Hyderabad: Intensifying its effort to install more public toilet seats, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is also putting to use QR Code facility to generate feedback on maintenance.
Presently, about 7,800 public toilet seats have been installed at 3,500 locations across the municipal corporation limits and efforts were on to meet the target of 10,000 toilet seats set by the State government.
Hyderabad now has the highest number of public toilets for any city in the country. The move to install public toilet seats comes after Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao directing the municipal corporation to construct facilities in different areas for the convenience of citizens.
Most of these facilities have been installed under the Build Operate and Transfer basis involving different agencies.
Though the installation of 10,000 seats across GHMC limits should have been completed by this time, the efforts to meet the target were delayed mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Senior officials from the GHMC said the balance of 2,200 odd toilet seats will be installed at the earliest and tenders were already floated to execute the works.
Apart from creating these facilities, the municipal corporation is also according to priority to their maintenance and upkeep and the task has been entrusted to different agencies, including a few self-help groups. Under this initiative, the GHMC is spending about Rs 3,500 per seat per month, and annually the estimated total expenditure is about Rs 22 crore to 25 crores, the official said.
Making use of technology, the municipal corporation has set up QR codes at these public toilets to ensure good maintenance and attend to any complaints lodged by the users. At each toilet seat, there is a unique QR code and soon after it is scanned by a user, a feedback form is displayed on the mobile. The user can also key in any remarks on the maintenance apart from ranking the maintenance, he said.
Already, many toilets are equipped with these facilities and works are under progress at other locations. There have been few instances when users complained about the lack of taps, bulbs, and others. Upon checking, it was noticed the taps, bulbs, and others were damaged or subjected to thefts, he added.