The Hindu | Hardeep Singh Puri launches Toilets 2.0

Nov 20,2022

On the occasion of World Toilet Day 2022, Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri virtually launched the Toilets 2.0 campaign. The campaign is aimed at changing the face of public and community toilets in urban areas through collective action involving citizens and urban local bodies.

Addressing the inaugural session in Bengaluru, Manoj Joshi, secretary, MoHUA, said the ODF++ protocol and certification for cities is given to ensure that human waste is contained safely. “Already, 25% of our cities have attained this status. A Water Plus certification is given to cities that do not discharge untreated used water into the environment. These initiatives align perfectly with the theme of the WTD 2022 ‘Groundwater and sanitation” – making the invisible visible’. By the end of the mission, it is expected that 100% of our cities will be certified ODF++ and at least 50% will attain Water Plus status,” the official said.

The campaign has five thematic areas. ‘People for toilets’ focuses on cleaning and maintaining the community and public toilets. The ‘partners for toilets’ is aimed at  partnerships with potential organizations for the adoption of community and public toilets for interim cleaning, annual operations and maintenance, one-time financial aid, IEC activities, beautification activities, innovation and others. Under the design toilet initiative, the entries will be invited from students of architecture and practicing architects for aspirational toilets in the categories of public toilets and community toilets. Based on the entries received, top designs will be selected and created into a compendium for cities’ consideration to adopt the designs.  ‘Rate your Toilet’ will be taken for promoting user feedback to improve public and community toilets and  ‘My thoughts - Our Toilets’  is a general public survey among citizens on public toilets across the country.