These bio-toilets will cost Rs. 7 lakh each. The toilets have come up at Town Hall compound, Usha Tourist Home premises at Kacheripady and Fort Kochi zonal office of the Kochi Corporation
Three pay-and-use public toilets, installed by the Kochi Corporation, will be inaugurated in the city on Friday.
The toilets have come up at Town Hall compound, Usha Tourist Home premises at Kacheripady and Fort Kochi zonal office of the Kochi Corporation, Kochi Mayor Tony Chammany said.
Four more units will be set up at Ernakulam market Canal Road, Palarivattom Junction, Vyttila junction and on the premises of the Early Cancer Detection Centre near Kaloor Private Bus Stand. The four toilets will be made operational within two weeks, Mr. Chammany told media persons here on Tuesday.
The cost of the bio-toilets, which were installed by the Forest Industries Travancore (FIT), were met from the civic body’s funds as it had made such a promise in its annual budget. Each unit would cost Rs. 7 lakh.
The lack of public toilets and the unsuccessful attempts of the earlier administrations to get toilets installed in the city had invited severe criticism, he said.
A bank has offered to set up a few toilets in the city as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility programme. The Corporation will auction the right to operate the toilets, Mr. Chammany said.
The technology for the toilets, which are projected as green toilets, was developed by the Defence Research Development Organisation, said Sambhu Sasikumar, technical consultant of the FIT. The Indian defence forces and Indian Railways have been using the toilets developed by the organisation.
The human waste gets fully converted to odourless residue by the bacterial composition inside the digester tank of the toilet. The liquid effluent in the system will be free of pathogens and it can be drained to any surface without any environmental hazards, he said.
One of the advantages of the toilets is that it is maintenance-free and can be installed and made operational in 12 hours. It need not be connected to the sewage lines and septic tanks. There is also no need for the repeated use of bacteria in the toilet system. The technology was also suitable for mobile toilet units. The units are also economically viable, he said.
Deputy Mayor B. Bhadra and Standing Committee chairpersons T.K. Ashraf, T.J. Vinod, Soumini Jain, Ratnamma Raju and Essy Joseph and corporation secretary Ajit B. Patil were also present at the press conference.
