For public toilets in capital free of cost

In 1925, the great Indian politician Mahatma Gandhi said, "Sanitation is more important than independence". This sentence is very simple but important and meaningful. He realized that people are suffering lots of health and environmental problems due to lack of safe toilets. The thing is poor people do not have access to healthy toilets, so it leads to lots of diseases and pollution of environment as poor people are used to the unhealthy (mostly open) toilets. It creates double burden - first, unhealthy toilets make them sick and secondly, polluted environment also makes them sick. As a result, their productivity is lost and they need to spend money to recover from sickness. That throws them into a poverty cycle. He also encouraged his followers to maintain healthy sanitation by their own at home.
However, about 90 years after; the world is still fighting for healthy and environment-friendly sanitation. Some 2.5 billion people still do not have access to proper sanitation, including decent toilets or latrines, with dramatic consequences on human health, dignity and security, the environment, and social and economic development as per UN. In 2012, the World Health Organization and UNICEF reported that there was 81 per cent sanitation coverage in the South Asia and Bangladesh is in the second position in healthy sanitation.
However, it is globally recognized that toilet is one of the most important tools of health and environment but it is also linked with the poverty as well. The United Nations (UN) puts a lot of emphasis on improving the sanitation system. There is crisis of public toilets worldwide. Particularly; the developing world including Bangladesh is facing difficulties to manage healthy sanitation.
Sanitation in rural areas is a more complicated matter due to different socio-cultural aspects. But in urban areas it is far easy to manage as everywhere in cities we can ensure the same healthy public sanitation. Dhaka is one of largest mega and highly-populated cities in the world. It is also one of the most polluted cities. In 2011, the population of Dhaka was more than 14.5 million. Some 1,418 people are added to the population in this city daily and annually it is about more than half a million (Daily Prothom Alo; 11 May 2014). According to this information; the current population of Dhaka is not less than 16 million. About half of these people move out from home to outside for professional or academic purposes. So; when people are staying outside; they need to use toilet.
In urban areas public toilets are playing an important role to improve public health and environment; because public toilet is important for daily life of the urban people.
The word "Public Toilet" itself clarifies that it is public property but, unfortunately public toilet is being changed to the private toilet in the Dhaka city. Most of the public toilets are being operated as private business and people have to pay money to use these toilets. This reason often discourages people to use public toilet; particularly often it is a burden for the poor people. So; most of these poor people use open spaces; which pollutes the environment of the city. It is noteworthy that about 40 per cent people are ultra poor who live in slum areas in the Dhaka city and most of them have no healthy sanitation facility at all.
A study conducted by the Centre for Urban Studies, Dhaka and Water Aid Bangladesh reveals that out of 72 public toilets only 47 are being operated with open access. That means that one-third of the city's population is forced to defecate in public, along roadsides, alleyways, railroad tracks or riverbanks.
Why do we need to pay for using the public toilets since they use the public places? Why do we need to pay money again since we pay tax to the government for these kinds of public facilities?
These are public property. There are many poor people who cannot afford this public toilet fare for excreting. I am not concerned about myself but, I am worried about people like the 1.0 million (10 lakh) rickshaw-pullers of Dhaka city who earn only enough to survive. If such a man has to spend money just for urinating, then obviously he would not go to the public toilet; rather, he will go to the pedestrian's area or open space. As a result there will be environment as well as health hazards.
Besides rickshaw-pullers, there are many commuters who walk in the Dhaka city and also face the same problem. Those who have low income and who come from outside the city for earning money face this problem severely. They have no information about the location of public toilets or how much charge to pay for using them.
There are so many markets, schools, restaurants, universities, and hospitals. All the markets can provide public toilet service because they use public electricity, public roads for their business. They operate their business with the public money; so why should they not serve the people for public toilet free of cost? When every member of the public enters a market, he is supposed to have paid the charge for public toilet. Dhaka City Corporations should concentrate on how to monitor and ensure the public facilities. It has to take vital responsibility for planning and ensuring every market, every restaurant and every university where there should be clean public toilet facilities.
The government and the city corporations should think innovatively to solve this problem. When the government is spending millions of taka for the public health and sanitation issue, why do the city corporations impose charges for that purpose? The city corporations can solve this problem by appointing a person at every public toilet who will stay there with a small shop and also maintain and clean the toilet.
Manjushree Maharjan is Exchange Fellow from Nepal, Work for a Better Bangladesh (WBB) Trust, [email protected] and Aminul Islam Sujon is Member, Poribesh Bachao Andolon and Project Coordinator, Work for a Better Bangladesh (WBB), [email protected]