Nestled along the Beach-Tambaram Railway line, Kamarajar Nagar, one of Tirusulam’s biggest slum pocket has over 500 households, but sadly not even a single toilet until a few months ago. Thanks to the efforts of the Pallavaram Municipality, the slum now has one that rivals public toilets in foreign countries in terms of technology — the suburb’s first operational ‘Namma Toilet’.

In the few months that the toilet is operative, it has found patronage among residents to the level that today an average of 300 to 400 people use the six cabin toilets in Kamarajar Nagar’s Nehru Street on a daily basis.

While the pan Tamil Nadu Namma Toilet Scheme has been gaining pace across various municipalities, which are completely devoid of public toilets, the one in Kamarajar Nagar, according to Pallavaram municipal officials, is one of the first in the city’s suburbs to be established in a slum area instead of public places such as bus stops and railway stations.

“We had conducted a community survey before installing the toilets and deduced that such slum pockets along the railway lines are at a place where open defecation is most prevalent. We have given the toilet established at a cost of `15 lakh to a firm on an O and M (operate and maintain) basis. The firm maintains it on a free use basis and users are required to register their usage. As of now, the toilets see at least 350 users a day,” informed an engineer with the Pallavaram Municipality, who is in-charge of the project.

According to the officials, a total of five such modern toilets have been planned in bus stops at Chrompet, Pallavaram, Keelkattalai and Anakaputhur, which will soon be set up.

Although the toilets have been witnessing heavy usage, the cost of maintaining them is very low, courtesy the technology, said officials.

“One of its main USP is it that it is completely solar powered. Apart from the latrines and urinals, the toilets have separate wash basins, borewell connection and lighting. In the evening hours, the lights automatically switch on when the door is opened, which helps conserve electricity,” the engineer said. Of the six cabins, three have been allotted for women, two for men and one separate cabin for persons with disabilities.

Although the number of toilets is not enough to cater to Kamarajar Nagar’s entire population, the residents seem happy with whatever is available.

“When these were first constructed, we didn’t know what they were and not many were using them. I actually thought it was some type of a machine,” said Mathivanan, who works at a tannery nearby. “But slowly almost everybody has started using them and in the evenings most of the time all cabins are occupied,” he added.

“It is very useful, but we also have acute shortage of water for regular use in this area. If they put up a tap near it with a connection to a borewell, it will be more useful,” said Moginiammal, a local resident.

With over five more such toilets planned in Pallavaram alone and many more coming up in areas such as Perungalathur and Peerkankaranai, the patronage this toilet has gained has given the project a good hope for success.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Arun Venkat – Chennai / May 07th, 2014