The Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) wants to build women-only urinals in the city that will also have space for mothers to breastfeed their children, mayor Firhad Hakim said on Friday.
Officials of the civic body said they have already received approval to build 11 such urinals.
The target is to build 75 such urinals, but finding space for all of them is challenging. The urinals need to be located in an easily accessible place or where a large number of people assemble. However, there is hardly any open space left, a civic official said.
Several women Metro spoke to welcomed the decision but added, almost in the same breath, that the places should be cleaned regularly and properly illuminated and the people entrusted with the responsibility of running them should be trained in how to deal with women going there.
"We often see men sitting at the entry to women's washrooms in a manner that does not inspire confidence. Hence, many women avoid visiting these public facilities. They avoid going to a toilet when they are outside or wait for long to reach a shopping arcade," said a woman in her 30s.
"But this should not be the case. The authorities should keep in mind that only building urinals would not be enough. They must create an environment that inspires confidence in women to use them," said another woman.
"We will build the urinals for women only. There will be other facilities in the same compound. This is being done as part of the 10 Diganta scheme of the state government," Hakim said. The 10 Diganta scheme is about 10 areas in which the government wants to develop the state, a CMC official said.
Besides the urinals, each of the enclosures will also have a breastfeeding room and a dressing room, said an official.
The 11 locations that have been identified for the urinals include the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital campus, near Kankurgachhi Pantraloons and Patuli. "Each of these will be on average about 300sq ft in size," said an official.
"But we are finding it difficult to get space in the city," the official said.
The CMC has also decided to create two moving toilets that can be taken to places where they are needed. Officials said there are plans to convert two buses into toilets, but these will not have the other promised facilities like the feeding room.