The State government has approved a perspective plan for eradicating open defecation in the city over a period of five years at an estimated cost of about Rs.10 crore. Disclosing this at an urgent meeting of the corporation council here on Tuesday, Commissioner K.Veera Raghava Rao said the government has given provisional sanction for Rs.2.66 crore for the current year under the plan. Utilising the funds, existing toilets in the city would be repaired, renovated, and expanded.
New public toilets would also be built wherever necessary, especially in places where open defecation is reported.
Accordingly, the corporation has decided to repair and install additional seats in about 55 existing toilets in the city, and build 10 new ones in different parts of the city at a cost of Rs.2.66 crore. The council approved an official resolution on the subject. This apart, Rs.10 lakh worth of improvement works on public toilets have already been taken up.
Earlier responding to complaints from Durga Devi and a few other councillors of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) alleging that toilets in the wards have been omitted in the list, Mayor A.Jaya said there was no questioning neglecting any part of the city, and all areas would be covered in subsequent works.
Mr.Rao said the corporation had already collected the view of the councillors on which toilets in their wards would be taken up for repair on priority basis.
The corporation has also taken up works from its general funds, and totally about Rs.7 crore was being spent on maintenance and construction of public toilets.
Relief for differently abled
The corporation would build differently abled friendly public toilets in 20 places across the city. The toilets would be built at a cost of Rs.5 lakh each.
The toilets would come up, among other places, at the central bus stand, Gandhi Market, near the Srirangam Ranganathaswamy, Thiruvanaikovil Akilandeswari Jambukeswarar, and Rockfort Thayumanaswamy temples, near Amma Mandapam bathing ghat, and corporation main office complex and its zonal offices at K.Abishekapuram, Ariyamangalam and Srirangam. The council approved an official resolution for award of the contracts for the construction of the toilets.
The council also approved a resolution for issuing a no objection certificate for installing a statue of language martyr Keezhapazhuvur Chinnasamy at the Salai Road-Shastri Road junction.
