In a pilot project, the Tiruchi City Corporation has decided to waive user fee at 20 pay-and-use toilets in the city to encourage people to use the facility voluntarily rather than relieving themselves in the open.
The initiative is part of the civic body’s drive to eradicate open defecation in the city. Even though Tiruchi was declared open defecation free (ODF) by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in 2017, it continues to be challenged by low toilet usage which has resulted in several areas becoming open air lavatories by default.
The Corporation has 300 public toilets under its purview. According to Corporation Health Officer T. Manivannan, the fee waiver has been implemented in community toilets of low-income residential areas in the city, and its outcome would determine the programme’s extension to the other areas.
