Soon junked TSRTC buses to be converted into loos in ULBs

Hyderabad: The cash-strapped TSRTC will now be getting revenue out of the waste as the Municipal Administration department has decided to procure the scrapped buses of the Corporation so as to refurbish them into toilets in municipal areas.

In its bid to have smart washrooms/ toilets including She-toilets the government had fixed a target of one toilet for a population of 1,000 in the municipal areas. Government had estimated that for a population of 77 lakh in the 139 urban local bodies except GHMC, 7,685 public toilets would be needed. The government had taken up construction of 4,696 toilets on a war footing and made them available for the people in towns.

The authorities had finalised the design of the refurbished bus being used as toilets in Kosgi municipality in Narayanpet district. The officials were asked to examine these models and a few other private models from Maharashtra where the refurbished bus was equipped with solar panels and solar lighting system, sanitary napkin dispenser, bio-digester equipped toilets, etc.

However, the officials said that at some locations, construction of permanent structures was not feasible because of the space constraints. In such conditions, the mobile toilets provide a better alternative as these can be placed at different locations like markets, tourist places, parks and other public places as per the needs.

The municipal commissioners have been asked to contact the depot managers in their respective towns for procuring the scrapped buses in the depots. The municipal commissioners have been asked to assess the requirement of buses and purchase the same from TSRTC.

In a recent meeting of the Municipal Administration, KT Rama Rao and the Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar, it was decided to provide Rs 2 lakh for each bus. The officials were asked to contact depot managers and get the required number of buses for refurbishing them and using it as toilets. The director of municipal administration N Satyanarayana recently issued a circular to the municipal commissioners.

A senior official in TSRTC said that there are about 1,200 scrapped buses with the Corporation belonging to different depots. The official said that these scrapped buses are replaced with the inclusion of hire buses. "The Corporation would not hesitate to give it to the municipal authorities as it will be getting Rs 2 lakh per bus, which is a cost to cost basis for us," said the official.