A survey of public conveniences in Chennai has lessons for planners in other Indian cities.
Like many cities in India, the need for toilets in Chennai is great. For example, a survey of 3.2 lakh residents of undeclared slums in Chennai — published by the Slum Clearance Board in 2005 — revealed that only 29 per cent of them had access to individual toilets or pit latrines, while the rest depended on public toilets or had no access at all.
But when Transparent Chennai — an action research project on urban governance — surveyed and mapped 49 public toilets in one zone of north Chennai, we found that more than half the toilets there were barely used by residents, including women and children. How could this be the case in a city where the need for sanitation is so great?
Our mapping of the zone revealed that toilets were not located in areas of greatest need. They were found in areas with very little foot-traffic, away from bus stops, market areas and informal sector workplaces. Toilets were also poorly maintained, had frequent blockages, and lacked water and electricity. Our map of toilets shows how they are unequally distributed throughout the zone — some wards had multiple toilets, while many had none. When we compared our toilets map with a map of undeclared slums — areas where the need for toilets would be the greatest — it showed that very few of these slum areas had a toilet nearby.
How could toilets have been built in this manner? Our research showed that decisions about building toilets in the city are not based on data about needs and existing resources. Building toilets in the absence of such data has led to the misallocation of scarce resources.
Poor record keeping
Collecting the most basic data on public toilets revealed the shoddy state of record keeping. We wanted to know the number and locations of public toilets in the city, but the Buildings Department at the Chennai Corporation, responsible for the toilet structures, did not have a centralised record. We were told to ask each zonal office for this information. We visited the offices, sometimes multiple times, and also filed a Right to Information (RTI) application. The data given to us voluntarily by the engineers listed a total of 572 toilets in the city, but the RTI response showed 714. Every single zone listed a different number of toilets in the RTI than they had reported to us voluntarily. Mapping the toilets in the zone we studied, a zone with a considerable population of slum-dwellers and informal sector workers who rely on public toilets, uncovered further problems; the government's database often lacked specific location information, and sometimes misidentified locations entirely.
Interviews with the different agencies charged with providing sanitation for the poor in the city indicated that they do not make any efforts to share data with one another, data that could be used to build resources effectively and target them to areas of greatest need.
The construction and maintenance of public toilets in the city is the primary responsibility of the Corporation of Chennai, while other agencies act as support. The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB), better known as Metro Water, is supposed to provide water and sewer lines to these toilets. The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board is responsible for providing hygienic conditions for slum dwellers in the city. Ideally, the location of a toilet should be based on an assessment of need and the availability of sewerage networks. However the Corporation does not seek Metro Water's advice before choosing locations for new construction. Sewer lines are instead connected to the toilet at a much later stage, in locations that are often not suitable for easy maintenance. The result is frequent sewer blockages, leaving the toilets unusable. Further, our study revealed that the Slum Clearance Board does not share its data about declared and undeclared slums with the Corporation, which means that toilets are often built with no relationship to existing settlements of the poor.
None of this comes as a surprise to those familiar with city services, especially those focused on the poor. But familiarity should not blind us to the very real impact of these processes: toilets are underutilised because they are not built in the places where they are most urgently needed, and then the lack of users at existing toilets is used as evidence that more public toilets are not needed in the city. But public toilets are a vital and necessary stopgap measure to increase access to sanitation, while the government undertakes the complex process of ensuring that every individual household has a toilet.
The poor quality of existing city level data, and the unwillingness of city agencies to use this data to allocate resources, means that even the limited existing public services fail to reach the needy. The lesson for Indian cities from our research in Chennai is that if city managers are serious about improving equity, efficiency and accountability in service provision, a prerequisite is that infrastructure decisions be based on rich public data that captures ground realities.
(Somya Sethuraman is a researcher with Transparent Chennai, housed at the Centre for Development Finance, IFMR. She was recently appointed a member of the Steering Committee on “Urban Water Supply and Sanitation” for the Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission's 12th Five-Year Plan. E-mail: somya.sethuraman@ifmr.ac.in)
Keywords: Chennai Corporation, Transparent Chennai, public toilets
The problem really is about the slums and not public toilets. That slum
rehabilitation is a big deal cannot be a reason why we need to bring
public toilets closer to these poor settlements. While the author's
reasoning on use of data is true, it is much more impactful to shed
light on the reasons behind the very existence of these slum
neighborhood and the fact that governments continue to ignore them.
Honest and sincere persons with or without education have been
consistently avoiding to participate in the governance of this country
and the result hooligans have started ruling us. I am a retired petty
clerk and using RTI Act I asked the Executive officer of one
municipality the rates fixed for pay & use lavatory at the bus stand.
The officer gave it in writing that Rs.0-50 paise was the charge for
urinals whereas the contractor was charging Rs.2-00 for the same. When
I argued with the contractor with the information, that person slapped
me violently. Later on the matter was taken up with the District
Collector and the contract was cancelled and re-tendered. During
1960's we were living near Teachers College, Saidapet and the canal
banks were empty in those days. Over the years one by one thatched
roof houses raised up and different political party flags were seen.
Today you can see hundreds of concrete houses, sodium vapor street
lights, and water taps. Sanitation ? ?
For each toilet built in a locality some one from that locality should be given the responsibility of that particular toilet and the one who is given the responsibility should be paid monthly. He or she should be responsible for the cleanliness of that particular thus making themself earn and encouraging them to come up for this job.
Good piece. It is important to also link this to social and cultural issues. Public access
Toilets are filthy everywhere in India. In airports, 5-star hotels as well on airplanes. Whether
the person in the slum or the affluent business man flying first class on Air India, they both
have the same attitude. indians have no toilet-etiquette, little sense of cleanliness, hygiene
or care/sensitivity for others. As long as we don't 'potty-train' Indians and/or put in place
Singapore-style order and discipline, India will remain a dirty and stinking country.
Existing ones are poorly maintained, you are better off using the road than getting in, the stench is horrible.
There should be regulation to govern this. I know a lot of resturants with no rest room ex., Anjappar in chrompet. They dont have parking space they dont have restroom, but they run bussiness.
Restroom in slum area is a different issue, restroom in public places is a different issue. A guy might work in IT company/might have a couple of bathrooms in his house, but needs to use the road when he goes to mint street for shopping. This is the harsh reality !!
A thought provoking article!! This clearly shows the pathetic situation of today's rural India.First the focus of the government must be towards attending to the basic needs of the people especially poor.Improper planning and dilution of responsibilities are main cause for such situation.
This is a very nice, fact-based article. The effort put to collect the data is commendable. This being a reality, what adds to the situation is the inclusion of new areas under the corporation-along ECR and OMR, which currently depend heavily on septic tanks and sewer tankers to clear sewage away. Slum dwellers along the ECR beaches use the beach front as their toilet rendering sections of the beach unusable for other purposes. This is a serious hygiene issue and it is high time the corporation wakes up to it
Toilets either missing or in existence are not maintained well by the
users. This may be due to inadequate water or other facilities.
Example: Train toilets. What is the use of providing toilets in slums
which themselves appear to be below the living conditions? Instead of
fixed toilets, mobile toilets should be tried in Chennai as the
operator of that vehicle can not bear the bad smell if it is not
maintained properly. Like providing concrete houses, these slum
dwellers must be provided decent houses first. Considering the cost of
mega projects undertaken by the states and centre, slum clearance may
be nothing and it is very essential even if its cost is high as they
involve human beings. It must be eliminated at one stroke by providing
decent houses.
Mass awareness programme with the help of NGOs as well as notable personalities who have the capacity to influence the people , is the need of the hour to educate the people to have their own toilets or have public toilets and not to defacate in the open. Open defacation is blot on the civilization . GOVT. SHOULD TAKE IMMEDIATE MEASURES TO ERADICATE OPEN DEFACATION AND OPEN URINATION.
Good to see a fact-based analysis of the shoddy planning of the civic authorities. How about an analysis of the civic sense of the people? It is a fact that lower-middle class folk, leave alone the poor slum dwellers, pay scant importance to toilets in semi-urban or rural areas. Toilets come way down in their list of priorities. The would rather invest where they get monetary returns than in something as "unnecessary" as a toilet. Open air is always a welcome retreat for them, near water bodies (however dirty it is). While civic planning is key, mindset of people is no less a factor. Why don't we see hygiene awareness campaigns, of the likes of AIDS awareness? Why do the successive governments prefer to pander to populistic greed for TVs and grinders, rather than come up with measures to stop open defecation? Just because the gullible people would rather have TVs rather than toilets.
There is this very famous movie from Kurosawa titled "Ikiru (Life)", set in the immediate aftermath of WWII-Japan, showing the extreme indifference and apathy of the public official to his work and his responsibility. Evidently, Japan has come quite a long way since whereas we are still stuck there, 60 years behind the rest.
The problem is not only with the toilets but much more about the slums. These sub-standard temporary accommodation structures (slums) are becoming quasi-permanent eyesores and civic officials are legitimizing the tenements by providing services to the itinerant inhabitants. With the city about to become bigger with the incorporation of adjacent zones, the civic authorities should consider novel methods of fast-tracking permits for developers who agree to build basic apartments for slum dwellers in designated areas. The slum dwellers can then be shifted to those areas and public transportation should be arranged for the inhabitants to come in to the city for work. The slums can then be demolished and the area can then be reused for public parks which will not only make the city more liveable but also make Chennai a more attractive destination for tourism and new business investments.
What else can you expect from Governments which do not care for the poor. These governments just work for the privileged ones and not for the poor. Even the rest rooms in the Politicians and Bureaucrats houses would be worth lakhs where as the poor do not have even the basic facilities. A sad state of our nation.
Its disgusting to find people urinating at public places. The stench
is unbearable and it throws a poor image on the residents of this
city. There will definitely be a place near every bus stop or railway
station which is commonly accepted by our people as urinating spots.
When people pass that place they would want to free their bowels. Why
cannot the government understand the need of public toilets to be
built there. They dont have to study population or complex data. The
locations are already marked by its residents. If the government is
not going to build toilets, it should be the responsibility of
railways and PTC to provide sanitary facilities at their stations. And
it also is the responsibility of public. When we can collect funds to
build places of worship in the nook and corner of the city, why are we
so reluctant to build toilets. Does anyone have the need to urgently
pray?
Its been more than 60 years since our independence. More than 60 years of Government planning. And what do we have to show? Our country is still mired with poverty. Till the time we look to the Government for solution, nothing will happen. Isn't 60 years of track record enough for us to realize that the Government is the reason for the problem, and not the solution?
very nice article. Those who have visited Chennai at least once would have faced difficulties in walking on the streets during morning.Every where human excreta were seen even in front of Chennai railway station, Vepery, Purushavakkom etc. So govt. should do sufficient policies to provide primary facilities for people and let them understand importance of cleanliness.
Nice to present the realities which none of the government people want
to share. One way government says India is the fastest growing country
of the world but ignores the basic needs of people living in India.
Thanks to researchers.
All our cities are in a very sad of decay and everywhere we see there
are no toilest and only filth, thrash, human and animal
waste,industrial & automobile pollution.Not enough water to drink and
bathe. This will lead to many diseases and sickness leading to death
among the poor & also slowly spread to middle and upper classes as
well. The root cause of all these issues is 1)Overpopulation which
should been controlled 30 years ago itself. 2) Our system of democracy
where nothing gets done even after many many years. India is simply
surviving because of a few good & honest citizens who are doing their
jobs inspite of innumerable obstacles & second is our faith in God.
The only good thing is that we have the largest Cell phone, Computers,
Internet users and our IT industry is simply serving the west as a low
cost labor force.
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