Cuttack: The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has failed to construct adequate number of hybrid toilets in the Silver City to improve public sanitation despite receiving a direction in this regard from the Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department.
Inadequate sanitation facilities at busy places like OMP Square, Pilgrim Road and Badambadi has been a matter of concern for the last several years.
Taking the issue seriously, the H&UD department had directed the CMC to construct at least 70 hybrid toilets in the city in 2016. The civic body had tied up with Sulabh International to construct the hybrid toilets. However, only 14 toilets have been constructed in the last two years, sources said.
Officials of Sulabh International claimed that the CMC has failed to provide them the work orders to build hybrid toilets at some places that were earlier identified for the purpose. “We have explained the positive aspects of hybrid toilets to CMC authorities. However, they did not provide us work orders to build the lavatories,” said Sulabh International official Binod Kumar Sharma.
It is worth mentioning here that Barabati-Cuttack MLA Debashish Samantaray had laid the foundation for a hybrid toilet on the premises of Sishu Bhawan, the premium childcare hospital in the city. However, the engineering department of CMC is yet to provide work order for the toilet, sources said.
On the other hand, a hybrid toilet was built near the Sriram Chandra Bhanja Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) a few months ago. However, the facility has been shut for people in the absence of coordination between CMC and Sulabh International, it is learnt.
“The Centre has been providing huge sums to the state government for construction of public toilets in cities under the Swachh Bharat scheme. However, the CMC has failed to implement the project,” said corporator Chitta Ranjan Dash.
Corporator Giribala Behera too targeted the CMC on the issue. “The civic body has failed to improve public sanitation in the city. The officials concerned should take immediate steps to implement the project,” she said.
CMC commissioner Sarat Chandra Nayak, however, blamed encroachment on lands identified for hybrid toilets for tardy implementation of the project. “We will try to expedite the project by dealing with the encroachment issues appropriately,” he said.