Mumbai’s Dharavi slum to get mega community toilet

80% of its residents depend on community toilets

The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai has planned to set up a ground-plus-two storeyed Suvidha centre in Dharavi, where apart from being one of the largest community toilets in Mumbai with 111 toilet units, it will also have modern laundry facilities with detergent, bathing area and a water ATM. Around Rs. 9 crore will be spent on this project.

Spread across an area of 2,600 sq metres, MCGM has planned the centre as part of a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project by partnering with Hindustan Unilever. Civic officials said that they plan to open it up by October 2 this year.

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Civic officials said that the Suvidha Centre in Dharavi will adopt a holistic approach to the issues of personal hygiene, lack of laundry facilities, lack of safe drinking water and poor sanitation that plague the slum cluster. The community toilets will accommodate 100 flushing toilets for women, men and children as well as accessible toilets for people with disabilities.

It is being designed with safety in mind with separate entrances for women and girls. Specific number of toilets will stay open at night to help reduce the risk of violence or skirmishes that is prevalent at many slum toilets.

The facility will also have a grey water treatment facility which could then be used for non-potable purposes. In Dharavi, there was a large vacant land available for sewerage operation (SO) pumping station. It will be a boon for the local residents as at least 5,000 persons in the area will benefit from it.

Additionally, the centre’s plan to provide laundry facilities with detergent will help members of the community save time, energy and money. The clothes will be already 60% dry after washing. This is expected to be provided at a price which will be lower than the market cost.

Water will be provided at a nominal cost of Re 1 for one litre and a family of five could access the toilets at Rs 150 for a month. Children will have free access to the toilets.