CHENNAI: Mayor R Priya launched the International Toilet Festival 3.0, in which several initiatives, including the identification and mapping of open defecation sites within the Corporation areas, an awareness campaign (#OnceinAloo), and the ‘Adopt a Toilet/Donate a Toilet’ programme, are planned. She unveiled the festival’s logo during an event held on Wednesday at Ripon Building.
Organised in collaboration with Wash Lab, Cheer, and Recycle Bin organisations, it’s a month-long campaign that would run until July 5. It seeks to encourage the public, institutions, and community organisations to take responsibility for maintaining toilets.
The initiative has been designed to spark conversations about sanitation throughout Chennai through activities such as pee-point mapping, a Toilet Walk, a three-day designer camp for 15 artists, a short film competition, a student exhibition, a conclave, and a carnival for sanitary workers. “There are around 1,400 public toilets across the city, but many denizens still hesitate to use them. This campaign aims to educate them on the importance of using toilets, and also train cleanliness workers on proper sanitation practices,” said Mayor Priya.
Deputy Mayor Magesh Kumaar shared an incident where he received a photo via WhatsApp showing a worker cleaning a toilet in Manapakkam. He urged the Corporation Commissioner Kumaragurubaran to issue guidelines through a circular and provide cleaning toolkits for all public toilets in the city. He also suggested the installation of handrails in all public toilets to assist senior citizens using Indian toilets.
GCC Commissioner, MD of Swachh Tamil Nadu Corporation RV Shajeevana, Additional Commissioner (Health) V Jayachandra Bhanu Reddy, Regional Deputy Commissioners KJ Praveen Kumar, (Central), MP Amit, (south) and Katta Ravi Teja, (north), Chief Engineer (General) S Rajeshwari, Washlab founder Ganga Dilip, and officers participated in the event.