No one expects a public toilet to be the cleanest of all places, or the healthiest, but a visit to one of the city’s seventy or so toilets conjures up images of the nastiest kind.
These facilities, while too inadequate to service the vast number of people needing them, bear the stains of years of neglect by the two city corporations. Of them, 45 are under the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and 25 under the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC).
Because of the inadequacy of toilets and their appalling conditions, people are often compelled to defecate in public, while those who cannot, like women and children, are left without an option.
Experts, however, stress the importance of toilets for the general public in reducing hazards associated with not having enough of them. Particularly in gathering places, such as bus and launch terminals, railway stations, filling stations, shopping malls, parks, etc.
“Lack of access to sanitary facilities can lead to various health hazards and environmental pollutions,” said Abu Naser, Poribesh Bachao Andolon. “People may contract water-borne diseases and, by extension, suffer economic losses.”
“The responsibility to ensure adequate toilets should be borne not only by the city corporations, but also other public service organisations.
“Only 2-3% of the city population currently have access to public toilets, which is really a poor figure. While we stress the need for increased numbers of toilets, it is equally imperative to ensure their cleanliness.”
During a visit to some of the city’s public toilets, it has been found that while they were charging fees for entrance, facilities for bathing or the disposal of faeces were far from standard.
The one-storey buildings have commodes either dirty or broken, with obnoxious odours all around and inadequate washing facilities. The fees range between Tk5 and Tk10 depending on the purpose of the visitor.
There are allegations that same of the toilets spaces are used for washing cars and the sale of water by the toilet leasers; some have even become meeting places for drug addicts and sex workers.
Sirajul Islam, a commuter who had to wait for 15 minutes to enter the public toilet in Gabtoli bus terminal, said the number of latrines inside the facility was meagre. “It is very malodourous inside, the floor is littered with liquid waste.”
In front of the GPO intersection public toilet near Muktangan, some customers were seen taking water by mugs from a nearby restaurant to wash their hands.
According to sources, the appalling conditions of public toilets were not appropriately addressed in the last development budgets of the city corporations. DNCC allocated only Tk25 lakh for this purpose in its Tk1984.53-crore budget while DSCC allocated Tk30 lakh in its Tk1876.08-crore budget.
DNCC Chief Estate Officer Md Fosiullah told the Dhaka Tribune: “There are some 24-25 public toilets under this corporation, built about a decade ago. If it was not for a court ruling barring us from taking control of all of them, we would have taken measures to develop them.”
“Most of the leasers took the toilets for one year, but they kept them under control even after the lease expiry; some have filed cases with court to retain their control. We will start our development work once the problem is over,” he said.
He also said the corporation had started constructing two new public toilets, near Gabtoli cattle market and bus terminal, to address the scarcity of toilets.
DSCC Chief State Officer Khalid Ahmed said, “The toilets are being maintained by different zonal offices of the corporation. So the officials of those zones will be responsible for their condition.”
However he did not elaborate on any possible cooperation measures to address the scarcity of toilets, or the lack of hygiene in the existing ones.
