Your Google map will not just tell you about the traffic on your route, now it can also help you locate a toilet. Minister for Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu has launched the Google Maps Toilet Locator App to enable people to locate the nearest public toilet. The facility is initially available in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Noida, Bhopal and Indore.
The user has to enter the key words Swachh Public Toilet, and access locations of 5,162 public toilets near malls, hospitals, bus and railway stations, fuel stations, metros and community toilet complexes. The app also gives information about the type of toilet seat available, whether it is free or paid, and the timings when it is open. The ministry plans to bring in more cities under the app eventually.
The effort is part of the Prime Minister's flagship project, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or Clean India mission, the main thrust of which is to make the country free of public defecation and urination. Naidu also launched the free to use Smart Toilets which have been set up by the New Delhi Municipal Council in Lutyen's Delhi.
NDMC has also launched the Reverse Vendor Machine to curb littering. When a plastic bottle is dropped into this machine, it gives a receipt to the credit of one rupee. It can later be redeemed, once the user has a substantial sum to his name. This machine has been set up at the busy Palika Market. NDMC plans to launch 20 more of these machines soon.
Naidu said that the Clean India drive had picked up momentum this year, with 502 cities and towns declaring themselves open defecation free. Another 237 hope to recieve tag by next year. Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Sikkim are the three states which have declared all towns and cities as open defecation free. Delhi is leading in production of compost at 3,000 million tonnes per month, followed by Uttar Pradesh.
