Neglected public toilets a nightmare to use

Most of Peshawar’s government-provided lavatories are either inoperative or in stench-ridden, dilapidated condition

PESHAWAR:

Despite numerous wall-chalkings forbidding the population from defecating in public it is common to witness men answering the call of nature out in the open in most parts of Peshawar.

While the rural literacy rate of 45% does have some part to play in men not paying any heed to the black paint chalkings, the lack of public latrines is the leading cause. According to a report by the city’s local government department, there are 146 public toilets for men in all four towns of Peshawar from Karkhano Market to Chamkani for the city’s nearly 2 million residents.

As men can, supposedly, get by one way or another, women do not have the same luxury. There are a total of 64 women-only public toilets in the city, but constant neglect has made them inoperative. Laiba, an avid shopper who resides in the city, while talking to The Express Tribune said that just a few days ago she visited Shaheen Bazaar with some guests and her family and during the shopping trip one of her guests inquired about directions to the nearest restroom. “I asked the shopkeeper about the female lavatory, and he told us that we could use the shop’s private toilet as the public lavatories were in bad shape and unhygienic.” Laiba’s guest refused to use the private restroom after witnessing an influx of male customers using it. “Seeing my guests’ discomfort, I felt ashamed that our local government cannot even provide such a basic necessity for women in these busy shopping centers,” she added.

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Apart from the non-availability of the toilets the sanitation of them, which is outsourced by the local government, is questionable as well. Hazrat Gul, a watch trader in the famous Qissa Khawani Bazaar, said, “the condition of the government toilets is as bad as a pile of rubbish as there are 200 shops in the market but only 6 toilets to use. More than 400 people use these every day so you can imagine what state they are in.” Gul said that citizens have to pay between Rs. 20 to 30 to use these stench ridden and disease hotbed latrines

Ishtiaq Afridi, who shares Gul’s sentiments, runs a dry-fruit business in Chowk Yadgar and gets customers from all over the country, most of whom are female. “Whenever a woman needs to go to the restroom, I feel very ashamed as there is no such facility here. Even the toilets for men are so bad that no one dares to use them,” he said.

In a bid to address the need of finding a public lavatory, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government introduced a mobile application in 2019. Initially, information regarding the whereabouts and condition of public toilets was provided in the application but at present the application like most of K-P’s capital’s restrooms is nonfunctional.

Moreover, the missing public latrines issue follows men and women alike in Peshawar’s costly Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) as well. 34 public toilets were constructed at 30 of the BRT’s stations out of which lavatories in stations with a high consumer influx like Gulbahar, Saddar, Khyber Bazaar and Ottara are closed. BRT spokesman, Muhammad Umair, while talking to The Express Tribune, said, “the restrooms that have been closed fall under the domain of the Provincial Development Authority (PDA) and it is their responsibility to complete the civil work. We are only responsible for the BRT’s operational tasks. As soon as PDA completes the work on toilets, we will open them to the public.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2021.