Survey shows people find no improvement in public toilets across country

As India marks nine years of the Swachh Bharat Mission on Gandhi Jayanti, a new survey has found that most Indians feel that there has been no improvement in the state of public toilets and that they would rather visit a commercial establishment to use toilets instead of a public facility.

The survey by community social media platform LocalCircles also found that even in cities like Mumbai, Delhi or Bengaluru, going to public toilets, unless managed by reputed organisations like Sulabh International, is generally a nightmare.

The survey was carried out in 341 districts of India to find out the state of public toilets and understand what people do when they are outside and need to use a toilet. The survey received over 39,000 responses.

About 42 per cent urban Indians believe availability of public toilets in their city/district has improved but 52 per cent of respondents indicated that there has been “no improvement” in the state of public toilets.

The survey said 37 per cent of the respondents found public toilets were “average/ functional”; 25 per cent described them as “below average/ barely functional”,  16 per cent found them “terrible” and 12 per cent found the public toilets “so bad, went but came out without using”.

“However, even in cities like Mumbai, Delhi or Bengaluru, going to public toilets, unless managed by organisations like Sulabh International or having a system of pay to use, or a highly efficient civic body managing them, is generally a nightmare,” the survey results showed.

The big issue that a large number of people have reported on LocalCircles in the last three years has been lack of hygiene, cleanliness and maintenance of public toilets in their area, district or city.

The survey said 68 per cent respondents surveyed said they would rather visit a commercial establishment and use the toilet there instead of visiting a public toilet.

When the survey delved into the reason for such a preference, it found that only 10 per cent surveyed rated public toilets in their city/district as well maintained while the majority 53 per cent confirmed that they are in poor or unusable state.

About 37 per cent of those surveyed said they are just in functional state but not well maintained.

In the survey, 69 per cent respondents were men while 31 per cent respondents were women. About 47 per cent respondents were from tier one, 31 per cent from tier two and 22 per cent respondents were from tier three and four districts