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Several thousands of people belonging to the poorer section have no toilets at all and they have no other way except to defecate in the open. In cities they are provided with Public Toilets, which never work and become non-functional from the beginning. Within a few days of opening of the Public Toilet, pilferage takes place (taps, bulbs etc., are stolen). Urchins and anti-social elements vandalize them. Then the toilet is beyond one's use and people have to necessarily go outside for attending their call of nature. Unfortunately, people do not have any attachment to anything, which is public. According to them the word "Public" means something that does not belong to them. There is another type of toilet called Pay & Use. For every use, the user has to pay a certain specified fee. It is good for those who can afford it. Exnora People's Toilets Exnora believes that the right solution will be a combination of Public Toilet and a Pay and Use Toilet; ie the people's toilet. The authority (Municipal Body) constructs the toilet and provides basic amenities like light, water and drainage and hands it over to an Exnora Committee representing Exnora People's Toilets Association (mostly of women) for managing and maintaining it. The name is changed from Public Toilet to People's Toilet. Therefore the first change will be a change in the name based on human psychology. Each family is considered a member of the Exnora People's Toilet Association and they contribute per month a nominal subscription of Rs5/- or more per family to the Exnora People's Toilet Association. (If everyone agrees, the monthly subscription amount can be computed taking into account, the number of persons from each family) A scavenger (called Toilet Beautifier) is employed to whom a monthly salary is paid by the committee. What normally each family pays to the "Pay and Use Toilet" per day, is paid to the people's Toilet as subscription for the whole month which is very meager. As the people are entrusted with the management and are also given the pride of possession of the toilet, they develop a sense of belonging and do their best to maintain and manage the People's Toilet. The important task here is user education. The users are told clearly and unambiguously the do's and don'ts for a clean toilet. They will not allow pilferage and when such things take place (e.g theft of a tap), they themselves contribute, bring a new one and fix it. Where the motivation level is high and the people cannot afford even the paltry monthly subscription, the local Exnora can form a group of volunteers from and among the users who can clean the toilet themselves by turns. In short the cleaning of People's Toilets can be done either by an employed Toilet Beautifier or by the users themselves depending on the level of motivation. Those Civic Exnoras who have slums nearby to their place, can help the slum people by introduction of the concept of People's Toilet and provide this vital facility to the people which will also help to improve their relationship with the slum dwellers. The construction can be carried out by government, municipal body, Exnora Toilets' Corporation, corporate houses, business establishments etc., as a project of each one of these organizations or a combined project. The best way could be to organise construction materials like sand, cement, bricks, etc., through sponsorship and people (the users) can be asked to contribute their labour. If they do the construction themselves, they will develop tremendous sense of pride about themselves and sense of belonging towards the toilet and will take utmost care for its cleanliness, maintenance and protection. Pay and Use Toilets The other option could be to initiate Exnora Pay and Use Toilets. As per the scheme with the help of municipal body, government agencies or private companies, toilets with all basic facilities can be constructed for the benefit of the people belonging to the poorer section. Exnora Toilets Corporation will undertake the management of Exnora Pay and Use Toilet. One or two Exnora Toilet Beautifiers (scavengers) will be employed who will have a small accommodation within the premises of the toilet. He will collect money for each use. The salary will be paid to the Toilet Beautifiers and the cost of maintenance including payment of electricity bill, water charges, colour washing etc., will all be met out of the surplus of collection made from the users. If there is further surplus, the money can be used for improving the surroundings of the toilets. Gardens can be developed around the toilets and construction of additional toilets. There can be benches for the comfort of the people waiting for their turn. Here too the user education is of utmost importance. Exnora Pay and Use Toilet can also be constructed in the busy market place, railway station, bus stand etc. Conversion of Existing Public Toilets The existing public toilets also can be improved and adopted for conversion as Exnora People's Toilet or Exnora Pay and Use Toilets depending upon the acceptability and suitability. Both are good concepts but their effectiveness will vary from place to place. The suitability should be studied in depth Exnora People's Toilet Corporation can raise funds through various ways for providing the most important civic infrastructural facility. The programme will have the following benefits:
In older days human civilization began along the riverbanks. New Exnora at various centres should avail the opportunity to initiate a new civilization around toilets. Wherever Exnora adopts a toilet, a branch of Civic Exnora should be started there and cleaner and greener residential colony too can be realized. The toilet sewage can be linked to the street sewer system. There can be leach pits if there are no sewerage system. There can be a mini biogases generation system. There can be also vermi-toilets.
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