Business communities and visitors to Damphu town alike welcomed the Tsirang dzongkhag’s move to construct a public toilet in the core town area. Currently to attend a nature’s call one must request a shopkeeper or restaurants to use their toilets.
“People often come to us asking for toilet keys. Whether they are our customers or not, we have to let them use our toilets because in an emergency we can understand the situation,” said Sampa, a restaurant owner in Damphu town.
A toilet is a must-have amenities in one’s lives, what happens when we need to use a toilet in the middle of the town, of course, look for public toilets. What if there isn’t one? The alternatives are either request shops or restaurant owners for their toilet keys or rush to bushes as the last resort.
Earlier the dzongkhag planned imposing fines for those urinating and defecating in the town area monitored by CCTV but it could not be implemented due to the absence of public toilets. Now a six-unit disabled friendly toilet is nearing its completion in the core damphu town. This is expected to solve the fuss.
“After the installation of CCTV, people are warned about imposing a penalty to those who defecate in open areas. We received casual, written and verbal complaints of the lack of infrastructures in the town area. After completion of this, it will cover half of the town and main core area with Taxi parking. We are also planning to construct a similar one in the bus parking,” Bishnu Bhakta, the assistant engineer for Damphu Municipal said.
“The population is on the rise and the town is also developing very fast but we still don’t have a public toilet. We let our customers use our toilet and it is very inconvenient when there is no water. I am sure this public toilet would be of immense benefit,” added Achut Acharaya, a shopkeeper in Damphu.
The public toilet is being constructed under the financial support from the Gross National Happiness Commission under the Community Minimum Infrastructure with over Nu 1 M. In the next financial year 2019-2020, the dzongkhag is planning to construct a similar structure in bus and truck parking.
