New Delhi: With the aim to provide public toilet facilities for transgender people in its area, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) inaugurated a toilet block with a separate cubicle for the third gender on Monday.
NDMC said that this is the first time that a toilet block with this facility has been built in Delhi.
The toilet was inaugurated by trans women in the presence of NDMC Chairperson Dharmendra and NDMC Secretary Dr BM Mishra near the Press Club of India parking facility at Rajendra Prasad Road.
This facility is open to the public and has separate cubicles for women, men, physically challenged/ especially abled people, and now trans people as well.
The facility is free of cost without any user charges and is open between 6.00 am to 10.00 pm. The toilet was constructed under the Swachh Bharat Mission.
"We have more than 300 public toilets in the NDMC area, and this is one more addition to our fleet of public toilet utilities. In this, we have given a specific separate space for trans people. Our (NDMC's) PTU's have separate spaces for men, women and physically challenged people. This is the first time that the NDMC has provided a separate toilet complex facility for trans people, perhaps even a first for Delhi," NDMC Chief Civil Engineer Sanjay Gupta said.
The NDMC had also asked transwomen to attend the inauguration and cut the ribbon at the ceremony on Monday. Gupta, who was also present at the event, said that they were happy about this development.
On being asked how many trans people frequent the area (a VIP area) this facility is built in and were likely to use it, Gupta said that was not the point of building it.
"I don't know how many trans people will frequent this facility, or for that matter, not a lot of physically challenged people use it either.
"However, the facility should be available if someone visits and needs to use it, whether it is frequently or not," he said.