Soon, residents and visitors to East Delhi will not be left in the lurch when nature calls, as the local civic body is planning a mobile app for locating the nearest public toilet complex.
The East Delhi Municipal Corporation has begun the first phase of the project by taking inventory of all its urinal blocks and community toilet complexes (CTCs).
“We have started with taking stock of all our facilities. The app will be developed to make it easier for users to find the nearest toilet as per the GPS coordinates,” said EDMC commissioner Amit Yadav.
For visitors to the many markets and shopping spots in East Delhi or people just passing through the area, the app will make sure they can locate a toilet quickly when the need arises.
The EDMC has 106 unisex CTCs, 285 urinal blocks and 175 water-less urinals. The app will not only tell users where the closest toilet is, but will also have information about the number of urinals, stalls and other facilities in each complex.
While taking inventory, the EDMC will check the level of maintenance, electricity connections, water supply and sewer lines in the complexes.
Those complexes found lacking in any parameter, will be overhauled before being added to the app.
The app may make it easier to spot a public toilet, but East Delhi suffers from a lack of facilities for women. The EDMC has only 85 toilets for women, something which residents hope can be changed.
“The idea of creating an app is fine, but there just aren’t enough toilets for women. Some markets still don’t have toilets for women so it is a real challenge to locate one,” said Richa Rani, a homemaker from Mayur Vihar.
