Bio-toilets are being set up all over the city to make it ‘open defecation-free’ and with the same objective an etoilet has been set up at Jagadamba junction.
Visakhapatnam is the first city in the State to introduce bio-toilets experimentally. Soon it will be expanded to the entire city. A total of 64 places have been identified near slums in the city and 179 public toilets have been set up there. But owing to lack of maintenance some of them became dilapidated.
To overcome this, bio-toilets were being introduced and in the first phase they were being set up at Chavulmadum, Manorama theatre, Diamond Park, Jagadamba Junction and the Beach Road, Municipal Commissioner M.V. Satyanarayana said during a visit to Jagadamba Junction where the toilet was set up.
The bio-toilets, developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation, come in two types -- fibre and stainless costing Rs.1.25 lakh and Rs.6 lakh respectively. The fibre toilets were being set up near the slums and the stainless steel ones at important junctions, the Commissioner said.
Charges
The stainless steel one is automatic and opens only after a coin- ranging from 50 paise to Rs.10 - is dropped into it.
However, the fibre toilet has no such pay-and-use provision as it is placed in slum areas.
