Toilet block coming up in Defence Colony with green concept, fitted with solar panel and central air-conditioning

MCD's 'heritage' toilets flush, with care

Toilet block coming up in Defence Colony with green concept, fitted with solar panel and central air-conditioning

You must have heard of heritage monuments, heritage hotels and heritage sites, but heritage toilets? In a first of its kind initiative, a contractor has come up with this concept in Defence Colony as part of the five-star toilets programme of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

Loo and behold: The heritage-style toilet coming up in south Delhi's
Defence Colony. Pic/Mid day

Less than two months ago, this place had stinking toilets with heaps of garbage strewn all around. Now a heritage-like structure with ultramodern toilets for men, women and the physically challenged is coming up at the same site along with a small amphitheatre and green gardens.

"We tried to build a structure with a mixture of ancient and modern with the idea that Delhi is a historical place with lots of forts and historic buildings," said Sanjeev Sharma, managing director of Gardenia Group. "The idea is to present Delhi in its old and modern forms. Every small thing will add to the prestige of our country during the Commonwealth Games. We used large stones to give the place an ancient fort-like look," Sharma added.

Pre-cast and pre-fabricated panels are being used to build the structure. The toilet block is designed with a green concept, fitted with solar panel for lighting and central air-conditioning. "It has a sewage treatment plant and rain water harvesting facility too," said Shitul Patel, representative of Patel Engineering Limited, another partner of the project.

Even shopkeepers of the area are excited about the concept. "We had been requesting the Delhi government, the MCD and the market association for the last 25 years, but no one cleaned the area. We are excited as such a beautiful structure is coming up here. Now, we are worried about the maintenance as lots of money has been spent," said J S Sahani, owner of the popular Kents Fast Food shop.

The toilet block at the Greater Kailash, Part I, M-block market is also nearing completion.u00a0u00a0u00a0

In fact, the MCD floated the project for luxury pay-and-use public toilets last September but it was held up due to litigation. "Only after getting a clearance from the Delhi High Court in the second week of July, we started the process of constructing 50 five-star toilets in the capital before the Commonwealth Games," a senior MCD official said, requesting anonymity.

The cost of constructing one toilet block is estimated to be around Rs.1 crore. Anyone planning to use the facility will have to pay between one or two rupees; the exact charge is yet to bed decided.u00a0 "Already work on these toilets with five-star comforts has started in a few places like Defence Colony, M and N-block markets at Greater Kailash, Kailash Colony, Moolchand, Model Town, ITO and Chittaranjan Park market by different contractors," the MCD official said.

A panel of experts comprising one member each from IIT, School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi Urban Arts Commission, Intact and the MCD commissioner will select the best site for allocating the development of the rest of the toilet blocks. "The expert panel will visit the sites on July 21 and after technical and financial presentation the work will be allocated by the end of July," said the officer.u00a0

"The state-of-the-art toilets will be better than those found in five-star hotels. The toilets will be air-conditioned and the first floor of the structure will have a coffee outlet and flower shops," the official added.