locating public toilets in the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area has been made easy as one can now find more than 300 of them on Google Maps.

The civic body on Wednesday launched a toilet locator awareness campaign, under which community toilets besides those located at petrol pumps, railway stations and bus stands are being added to the database.

Inaugurating the application (NDMC Mobile App NDMC311), NDMC chairman Naresh Kumar said, “The users will also be asked to give feedback for toilets they locate using Google Maps. Once the campaign that started on July 12 ends on August 11, the cleanest toilet will be awarded.”

Currently, 333 public toilets have been mapped on Google to enable citizens and visitors to locate the nearest public toilet in an area.

“While the step is aimed at reducing public urination, it is important that toilets are in good condition and hence the feedback is being sought,” said Kumar.

“The council is in process of providing world class smart toilets having modern facilities like bank ATM, water ATM, rooftop solar panel, sanitary vending machine, dispenser, digital health clinic and online user feedback tablet,” said NDMC official.

“The campaign will also collect a database in the form of citizen feedback, which will be further shared with the urban local bodies (UlBs) for the proper maintenance and cleanliness of these public toilets,” he added.

Mission Director (SBM-Urban) at Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) Praveen Prakash urged citizen to participate in the campaign of rating and reviewing the public toilet

“We believe that open defecation is a public health hazard, and therefore this campaign would help us enable citizens of Delhi NCR to take a definitive step towards better health and hygiene,” said Prakash.

NDMC official further said total 109 such smart toilets are being constructed and 40 smart PTUs have been commissioned with remaining work to be completed by September, 2017.