No takers for MCG's tall claims on public toilets

Gurugram: The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) may have constructed and opened 150 public toilets, utilising Swachh Bharat funds. However, it does not seem to have solved the problem of open defecation in the district.

Lack of water supply and basic maintenance has resulted in people not using public toilets. Earlier, it was reported that half of the government toilets were unusable for the public, as they were locked. Later, MCG officials claimed that all toilets were open for public use.

Shockingly, some of the unusable public toilets are not located in far-flung areas but in densely populated and posh localities of the city. These locations include MG Road, Civil Lines and Sector-15.

While there has been no official stand on the yet to be opened toilets, sources claim no there is no proper budget allocation for their maintenance.

People still relieving themselves in the open – especially in posh locales – makes it even harder for Gurugram to improve its Swachhta rankings.

There are also complaints that lack of toilets leads many construction labourers, working in sectors 37, 46, 39 and 45, to defecate in the open.

Despite public agencies actively promoting that the city is now open defecation free (ODF), residents are unimpressed by the claims.

Ever since the city was announced to be ODF, residents took to social media to lambast the agencies for ignoring the ground realities.

Even the large number of portable toilets built in the city have proved to be short for Gurugram's large migrant population. To make matters worse, MCG struggle to get land across different sectors in the city to build toilets.

This has resulted in most toilets being located in villages surrounding the city, that are hardly frequented by passersby.