Mumbai slums have rapidly become major hotspots for COVID-19 and community/public toilets have been identified as one of the vital factors for the spread. In a bid to address this problem, engineers of BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) G (south) ward (Worli, Prabhadevi, and Elphinstone) have developed a low-cost automatic sanitising system in four community toilets in Worli Koliwada as a pilot project.
With simple installations in these toilets, the civic engineers have created a system wherein all major contact and touchpoints are sprayed with sanitisers automatically in a set time.
Slums are densely populated and have a toilet block for more than 100 residents. Hence, physical distancing, which is considered one of the key measures to keep the virus at bay, goes for a toss.
During a regular brainstorming session at the G (south) ward office last month, the problem was discussed and it was simultaneously decided to install automatic sanitising sprays. "My team worked on how to develop this model at a low cost. They researched the model and came up with one. The model is successful in these four toilets and we are now looking at extending them to 10 more community toilets and 10 pay and use ones in the ward," Assistant Municipal Commissioner of G (south) ward Sharad Ughade told the Free Press Journal.
Officials of G (south) ward have managed to bring in a downward trend in the growth of the number of cases that was till last month termed as Mumbai's worst-hit municipal ward. Various containment measures undertaken by the team G (south) led to the number of cases sliding and recovery rate rising. As of May 31, the ward holds the eighth position in the list of affected wards.
"For an initial 20 seater toilet, the system costs 1.5-2 lakhs. We are looking at reducing it further by working out possible simplifications to the system. We are exploring CSR funds for the project and its extension," Ughade added.
