<p>Women workers like pourakarmikas, traffic junction attendants, and auto-rickshaw and bus drivers, who spend extensive hours on city roads, are worried about poorly maintained or prohibitively expensive pay-and-use public toilets.</p>.<p>Janani Vatsala, a fourth-year law student and active member of the KRS party, recently posted a video on Twitter urging the state government and the BBMP to make public toilets free for women. She told <em>DH </em>of her intension to submit a letter to the BBMP within a week on this matter.</p>.<p>BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath said the money collected at toilets are spent on their maintenance. "The user fee is just to see the accountability and ownership of the asset by the community," he told <em>DH</em>.</p>.<p>Girinath did not dismiss the possibility of making toilets free for women, saying the BBMP will soon float fresh tenders for public toilets.</p>.<p>To get a sense of their problems, <em>DH </em>spoke to women whose jobs force them to spend long hours on the road.</p>.<p>Prabhavati, an auto-rickshaw driver, said there is a severe lack of accessible and clean toilets for women in the city.</p>.<p>"In six years of my driving, I have developed several health issues just because I almost stopped drinking water to avoid going to the public toilets,” she said.</p>.<p>Most toilets charge women Rs 5, but Prabhavati said places such as the one near the Yelechenahalli metro station demand Rs 10. "Workers pocket the extra money as commission for maintaining the place. Despite that, the toilets are in an unbearable condition,” she said, wondering if it was possible to make public toilets free for women.</p>.<p>Parameshwari, another auto-rickshaw driver, was sceptical. "If public toilets are made free, they will not be cleaned. Extra fee (however) might motivate workers to keep the toilets clean," she said.</p>.<p>A woman traffic cop attached to the Whitefield station said the area has no clean public toilet.</p>.<p>"I end up going to the one in the station if I am posted near it. Most times, however, I am forced to walk into a hotel or a mall because it is impossible to avoid going to the toilet through an eight-hour shift," she said.</p>
<p>Women workers like pourakarmikas, traffic junction attendants, and auto-rickshaw and bus drivers, who spend extensive hours on city roads, are worried about poorly maintained or prohibitively expensive pay-and-use public toilets.</p>.<p>Janani Vatsala, a fourth-year law student and active member of the KRS party, recently posted a video on Twitter urging the state government and the BBMP to make public toilets free for women. She told <em>DH </em>of her intension to submit a letter to the BBMP within a week on this matter.</p>.<p>BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath said the money collected at toilets are spent on their maintenance. "The user fee is just to see the accountability and ownership of the asset by the community," he told <em>DH</em>.</p>.<p>Girinath did not dismiss the possibility of making toilets free for women, saying the BBMP will soon float fresh tenders for public toilets.</p>.<p>To get a sense of their problems, <em>DH </em>spoke to women whose jobs force them to spend long hours on the road.</p>.<p>Prabhavati, an auto-rickshaw driver, said there is a severe lack of accessible and clean toilets for women in the city.</p>.<p>"In six years of my driving, I have developed several health issues just because I almost stopped drinking water to avoid going to the public toilets,” she said.</p>.<p>Most toilets charge women Rs 5, but Prabhavati said places such as the one near the Yelechenahalli metro station demand Rs 10. "Workers pocket the extra money as commission for maintaining the place. Despite that, the toilets are in an unbearable condition,” she said, wondering if it was possible to make public toilets free for women.</p>.<p>Parameshwari, another auto-rickshaw driver, was sceptical. "If public toilets are made free, they will not be cleaned. Extra fee (however) might motivate workers to keep the toilets clean," she said.</p>.<p>A woman traffic cop attached to the Whitefield station said the area has no clean public toilet.</p>.<p>"I end up going to the one in the station if I am posted near it. Most times, however, I am forced to walk into a hotel or a mall because it is impossible to avoid going to the toilet through an eight-hour shift," she said.</p>