CHENNAI
THE GATEWAY OF SOUTHS
( ABHIPSA SARKAR)
Chennai also known as Madras (the official name until 1996), is the capital of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, is the most prominent cultural, economic and educational centre of South India. It is the traditional gateway of South India, most visited city by the foreigners. In August 1996, the Government of Tamil Nadu officially changed the name from Madras to Chennai. Healthcare capital, Chennai attracts 45% health visiting tourists in India. Also home to the Tamil film production industry. Chennai is a city ranging from education to entertainment with the strong presence of political struggle over there. The city had witnessed many actor turned politician ruling the government till date.
We are all familiar with the BJP’s Swaach Bharat Abhiyaan (Har Ghar Mein Shauchalay) mission which envises Open Defecation Free (ODF) India.
Launched with much funfare at Delhi on oct 2nd 2014, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed to capitilize its wings of BJP in Tamil Nadu. So BJP fails to promote Swaach Bharat Abhiyaan mission in Tamil Nadu, it has failed to enthuse the people of Chennai with the mission. Even when the Governor of Thanjavayur, Banwarilal Purohit wants to promote swaach bharat abhiyan and also to solve the cauvery water management, DMK a prominant political party there staged a black flag protest against the Governor’s initiative.
Lets bring Chennai on the top page of the daily with the inauguration of the first public restroom attached with café which is an officially ODF city.
Brainchild of Abhishek Nath, founder and chief executive officer of Ixora FM, to turn shipping containers into toilets. He said that the cafe has toilet space for men, women, transpersons and also people with disabilities. The toilets will also have bars which will help the students access toilets without any difficulties. Works are also on to install braille-friendly instruction to help people touch and access toilets. Expenses involved in maintaining a clean toilet has always been vital factor in providing a hygienic utility for people. Just like that,
LooCafe is an example in Chennai. Chennai’s first free luxury public toilet with café attached opened on the IT corridor of the Greater Chennai at Indira Nagar MRTS. The Greater Chennai Corporation provides the space for this project free of cost for up to 15 years, Loocafe with its expertise in maintaining public toilets, constructs them and the maintenance of these utilities are done by Madurai-based startup Thooya Innovations, a partner of Loocafe.
In Indira Nagar, Loocafe has joined hands with Madras Coffee House for running the cafe.
This is a toilet free open for public. The utility includes separate urinals for men, western closets for women, differently-abled and transgenders. The 'luxury' toilets adjoining the snack cafes, will be air conditioned, free of odour and can be used free of charge by city residents. It is also added that the revenue earned from the café will be used for the maintenance of the toilets which covers 50% of the total space there. The Loocafes will have child-friendly toilets, free WiFi, CCTV surveillance, hand driers, vertical gardens and central air freshener dispensing machines. The toilets will also be accessible to elderly and persons with disabilities. The units will sell packed food and beverages, and will also have advertising spaces.
The main reason behind such a great initiative in the heart of the city is that most of the public toilets lack maintenance, lack of napkin vending and disposal area, no community awareness and education on toilet usage and maintenance and ceramic and metal infrastructure is often stolen. Armed with ATMs, camera surveillance, free WiFi, the air-conditioned and smart Loo Cafe uses Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to help achieve energy and resource efficiencies. It also runs a dedicated radio channel providing music and airing messages on sanitation and hygiene. Equipped with a back-end command centre with a 24-hour monitoring system, the Loo Cafes have stink sensors, CCTVs, water ATM and serving standardised food round-the-clock.
The partners of this café has developed an app which will be managed by IOT technology to get notify by string sensors if anything gets deployed. Venkatesh CR MD of Thooya Innovations said that they spend rupees 15-20 lakhs for each toilet complex with the cafe, making arrangements for power, sewage and water which would take around 15 years to recover the cost as It's a way of giving back. Added that he said the revenue rent from the shops will be used to run the toilets.On the future plans, Abhishek said that they also future plans to convert humidity into the water for using it to flush the toilets.The company plans to install 50 Loocafes by the end of the year and to bring 100 such Loocafes by 2024. As a next step, Loocafes will be set up in locations including Velachery, Besant Nagar and T Nagar.
They are ready to replicate the model in Coimbatore, Madurai, Kodaikanal and Hyderabad. Interestingly, the Madurai café will be employed by the transgenders which will be an example for the future employment in India.
Being installed in Telangana, the company has a target of installing 25 luxury public toilets in Jammu & Kashmir around Dal Lake with keeping the local culture at par with the café.
The Corporation has earmarked 55 such spots in Chennai to develop such cafes but the only issue is to keep these toilets clean and be allowed to be free for the public. Post COVID efficiency of clean washrooms has increased but there is a lot of work to be done. Larger cities need to have more infrastructure in terms of mobile vans cleaning technology. So Loo Cafe has shown a new and successful model, changing the concept of public toilets from filthy and stinky places to clean, hygienic and luxurious washrooms with various facilities attached to them.
