The Administration has declared toilets at Petrol Pumps and Restaurants as public toilets in Diu District

On 10/09/2019, the Administration of Daman & Diu has declared toilets situated at Petrol Pumps and Restaurants in Diu District as public toilets without consultation with stakeholders.

It is the duty of the Administration to build and maintain public toilets at various places and tourist spots but they don’t have the fund for such small works and desire of service. They have fund only for big projects from where they can earn. But public toilets are also important so they have come up with the innovative idea, made an Order and shifted the onus to the Petrol Pumps and Restaurant owners, who were maintaining toilets for their customers now have to cater to the general public and maintain it without any reimbursement.

Now, imagine a situation. Any tourist or visitor will go to Petrol Pump or Restaurant and use the toilet situated in that premises and owner cannot say anything and they have to maintain that toilet since the same will be used by their customers also.

In Restaurant, it will be difficult since a visitor will pass through their property to get access to their toilets, disturbing every customer sitting in that restaurant.

I think this is a noble cause and nobody should have an objection to this. But the problem starts with the intention. The Administration is spending thousands of crores on infrastructure projects then why it abhors spending some money on public utilities like toilets.

Is one more thing worth mentioning here is that, will Petrol Pump and Restaurants owner get some kind of benefit for providing these facilities to the public free of cost? I think they should get a rebate in GST or Income-Tax or Property Tax.