GOVERNMENT PLANS PUBLIC TOILETS ACROSS KERALA STATE

GOVERNMENT PLANS

 PUBLIC TOILETS ACROSS KERALA STATE

The government is planning to set up toilets at public places, including government offices, across the State.Functional, well-designed, safe, secure, reliable, easily accessible, women, children, elderly and disabled-friendly public comfort stations, public toilets and restroom facilities are being planned by the Public Works Department.These facilities will have drinking water facility, round-the-clock power supply, and a 24x7 help desk to handle emergency situations.Strategically placed and easily accessible, the public comfort stations will be eco-friendly and work on indigenous technology and will be simple to use, clean and hygienic.The PWD has set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) on the CIAL model to implement the ambitious project on the lines of Prateeksha Bus Shelters Kerala Ltd. (PBSKL) for creating bus shelters across the State.

Ashwas Public Amenities Kerala Limited (APAKL), being set up as a public limited company, will be the nodal agency for constructing, developing, maintaining and operating the public toilets.Official sources told The Hindu that the Cabinet had cleared the SPV and orders approving Articles of Association and Memorandum of Association of the APAKL had been issued.The authorised capital of the company is Rs.5 lakh and the paid up share capital is to be released through the Kerala Road Fund Board, another SPV set up under the PWD.The government will hold at least 26 per cent of the total paid up capital of the company.The registered office will be in Thiruvananthapuram.

Besides Minister for Public Works V.K. Ebrahim Kunju, the Secretary, Public Works Department (PWD), Principal Secretaries of Finance, Local Self-Government Departments (LSGD), Economic Adviser to the Chief Minister Shaffy Mather, and Chief Executive Officer of the KRFB Harikesh P.C have been nominated as directors.The company has been given the powers to carry out the business of providing sanitary solutions, feasibility study, acquire, plan, design, commission, operate, improve, repair and promote the safe and dignified use of sanitised public comfort stations, public toilets and restroom facilities.

Prof. John Kurakar