Problems of public toilet in karachi

Note :As the public toilet issue in Karachi is very huge and too difficult to study, it may contain several places like public places, bus stops, van stands, cinema houses, theatre halls, markets, school, colleges, universities, railway stations, airports and so on. But in this report  the Government Hospitals & Bus Stops will be discussed and only few part of public places will be considered. The information in this report will be of 11% from internet & 89% of my own research and meeting with different people who faced this problem...


INTRODUCTION
Public toilets are toilets open to anybody, in public places or in residential areas: typically there will be a charge for each use. Sometimes charging will be monthly: each users pays for a monthly ticket. Mostly users prefer to pay per time use. Users of public toilets will generally feel less ownership other user’s toilets. In
Karachi: 42% of the city’s population is without proper toilet drainage.


NEED FOR AN ACCESSIBILITY OF PUBLIC TOILETS
As Karachi is the highly dense populated city. The city has an estimated population is 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan areas has a population over 18 million. Large number of people daily travels through bus from on corner to the other corner of city. In this regard many people travel with staying at different stations or point. So at different stations of bus stops or lateral traveling point of common people which are usually traveled through bus or by walk, sometimes people needs toilet for their ease. In Karachi many bus stops needed toilets or a place where the human consumption rate is rarely high.
In the same manner Government Hospitals also required a lot of care of toilets in their respective departments, in order to facilitate the doctors, patient and the people who care their patients.


Public Places is also another main factor where the need of public toilets is usually high, like amusement parks, gardens, museums, towers, shopping malls, spiritual places etc. The description of the above topics will be given below with several reference context, in which it will be discussed there lack ness in the e city, importance, rehabilitation and suggestions.

IMPORTANCE
People commuting different areas of city & staying at different points, visiting & circulates to their desire places need restrooms. For the sake of people easiness, toilet must be available at different to facilitate the peoples.
The following places needed immediately action from the concerned government departments for having public toilets.
These places will be discussed in this report are as follows:

1. PUBLIC PLACES
Many Public places of the city are facing the very common problems of public toilets. These places include amusement parks, vegetable markets, shopping malls, gardens, towers, spiritual places etc. Almost 68% of the public places in Karachi where toilet for human use doesn’t exist. One positive sign in the remaining places, where the proper maintenance of toilets is carried out on weekly basis, but they are also under as private sector.
At the time of city nazim Mustafa Kamal, he had started the mobile toilets scheme under the provision of CDGK which works at different public places where the lack of toilets. It was a very good sign, but right now our government doesn’t have any intensions over this major issue facing by the people of Karachi.
Problems:

• People are facing problems of toilets in different public places like picnic points, markets, shopping malls etc.
• Due to lack of toilets in public places, most of the people use MASJID restrooms, which aren’t made for this purpose.
• These toilets are unsafe at night for women & children.
• Lack of privacy & may be embarrassing for some users: in some cases doors may be broken or missing, so that even basic privacy is lost.

Suggestions:

• Proper toilets should available in all markets or near passer by areas.
• All picnic points have maintained public toilets with functional accessories.
• Nominal charges should apply on public toilets near the markets because the maintenance cost will be recovered & facilitate the people properly.
• Cost effective public toilets will be provided that gives maximum function in minimum space and are safe, accessible, available, attractive & easy to maintenance. 
• Accessibility for wheelchair user & other people with physical limitations can use the facility.
• Plan for these restrooms that can function year round and 24/7.

2. GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS

Almost every government hospital faces the major problem of public toilet which should be immediately correct by the government because many 

People are suffering with their patients who need the medicine, treatment & care for speedy recovery from the disease. Unfortunately, our government has been failed to provide the sufficient neat & clean environment in the hospitals to take care of those patients, which are creating many problems for patients & even their attendants. 

I’ve visited the only two major government hospitals of city of Karachi, because a large number of cases brought here. In these hospitals have much kind of wards which contain emergency, simple ward, ICU etc. I personally visited these hospitals to take the photographs for presentation, I found there the most disgusting signage which that toilets lie in the ward where around 15-20 patients laid down every time. The toilets were opened and no treatment of care, there were no lights in the washrooms, broken doors and washbasins, or in some toilets there were absence of washbasins. Due to open environment it creates bad smell in the ward where the patient treats.

The same situation was facing by the patient of emergency ward, but the only difference is that emergency department toilet located at the side of the room (emergency).

In civil hospital I’ve seen in OPD Department facing a little bit different situation as compare to the emergency and wards in hospitals, in OPD the toilet located outside the building and neat as well and can be used as well, but the only undesirable thing is lack of washbasins and sweepers. 

On the other hand OPD of Jinnah hospital facing the opposite situation, the bathrooms were inside the OPD department & the situation was bad with 

Stingy air. 

I’ve seen many problems in the government hospitals toilets other than I’ve discussed above. Some important problems are highlighting below:

Problems:

• Cleaner/sweeper shows laziness to their work.
• Visitors use the washrooms.
• Those visitors, who use tobacco, frequently spit in the toilets.
• Broken accessories.
• No presence of soap/tissue.
• No commode availability for patient.
• Villagers/Interior people used the toilets disgracefully.

Suggestions:

• Ward toilet must be neat & clean.
• A sweeper always available for mopping after every 1 hour.
• Ward toilet use only for patient.
• There should be WC & Commode for patient, to use with their own desire.
• Muslim shower.
• Completely banned for those people who look after the patient it may be visitor or attendant, who shouldn't allowed taking with him/her self cigarettes, supari, pan, naswar etc.
• Not use chalking in wall of the toilets.
• Washrooms for patient must be cleaned and free from smell, because in Karachi govt. hospitals, restrooms can’t be use by a normal common people then how can be a patient?
• Completely banned for visitors to use the ward washrooms.
• There should be an exhaust fan inside the washroom and an air tight glass gate at the entrance for preventing smell in ward.
• Ample water.
• Taps should be in working conditions
• Tissue paper & soap
• These toilets must be free of cost for usage of patients

In Karachi around million of people commute daily through local buses in different areas of the city. The large no. of people related lower & middle class who’ve the only option for traveling are buses. When the people leave their homes for job in the morning, they face so many different problems & they’ve so many thoughts in their mind because of their different problems in home & offices. They people must need some mental relaxation for their good growth. When they come on bus stops they see rush, hear noise on these places & if  someone need to go to the toilet then he must got frustrated because in our city it has come to see, there’s a huge problem of public toilets on bus stops. Very few bus stops of the city have public toilets, which aren’t enough for our need.

As the need of human towards toilet increasing day by day, people travel through local bus services and stayed at different stations, need rest rooms for their easiness. It’s a huge lack of public toilets in bus stops in Karachi, where the main stops are Saddar, Regal, Garden, Ranchorline, Cant, Racecourse, Punjab Chowrangi, Numaish, I.I. chundrigar Road, Labella, Kashmir Road, M.A Jinnah Road, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gizri, Nishtar Road, Nipa, Sakhi Hassan, North Nazimabad and so on. There are so many bus stops which aren’t enough to be discussed in this report. Awareness in people has to be developed for the sake of good infrastructure of the city.

Location of toilet on the given bus stops matters much, it should’ve good or say an ideal location to facilitate the people.   

Problems:

• A city like Karachi, women can’t be able to use the restrooms at bus stops for her security.
• Accessories are broken in bus stops restrooms.
• Dirtiness is most common. 
• No soap/tissues.                             
• In this picture a public toilet where the women section is closed & while the men section is opened, that will be only used in rare case of high compulsion.
• Full of smell
• Unusable WC/Commode
• No grants for maintenance and no system of user fees
• Results in very poorly maintained toilets
• Most of them are connected with septic tanks
• No running facility of water

Most of times one finds completely choked toilets seats beacuse:

• No dedicated service providers
• Due to lack of running water and a situation of poor water availability of people come only with a mug of water for anal cleansing but not flushing.
• No lighting facilities lead to poor usage by women
• When septic tank is filled up it is not emptied quickly& hence usage goes down.

Suggestions:

• Nominal charges will be taken from every person who can be easily afforded.
• A toilet at different bus stops can be maintained like the above given pictures. Although it’s not matches the international public toilet standard but I found only this toilet neat & clean, availability of sweeper as compare to other bus stops at different stations point of Karachi.
• People should be aware to use the public toilet. 
• A committee should work under the custody of government, which should’ve to do weekly survey, & progressed the work.
• Sweeper/cleaner must be uniformed.
• A chart showed the awareness of usage of toilets pasted at the notice board of the entrance. 
• Male & female cleaner/sweeper for male & female section separately.
• Muslim shower.
• Proper accessories.
• WC/Commode for different people.
• Plan for these restrooms that can function year round and 24/7.

CONCLUSION

• The above mentioned sectors are the most important where the government has to take immediate notice because these places are the most common places lies in any city where the people need desperately the public toilets.
• There should be proper work by the government for hospitals, bus stops & public places. So the people may get the systematic environment & avoid from the mentally tensed situations.
• Also, it is the duty of a patriotic citizen to fulfill its duty to make a clean city. A person who uses the public toilet must aware & he/she knows that this is his/her own property & it has built up by their own given taxes to the government.
• It is an appropriate solution in low-income high density areas, particularly where a high proportion of movement of public.
• In order to achieve real sustainability, it’s important to aim for a genuine local community, municipal and/or private participation of the people of the city to make better the city.
• People should also play an important role to take care of public toilets no matter where are they located or it may lie in any government or private sector. Because it’s a public property & made by our own given taxes & we’ve to take care our property with ourselves.
• There should be a proper awareness program to use the toilets, because these toilets are made by our own given taxes. Most of uneducated people which they came from villages don’t have much more awareness. If a permanent chwokidar/sweeper hired for these restrooms by CDGK then there might be a frequent improvement would be seen.