Bihar: 25 e-toilets to be built at 12 places in Bhagalpur

BHAGALPUR: With an aim to provide public utilities for common people and commuters to answer nature’s call, the Bhagalpur Smart City Limited (BSCL) will soon establish smart e-toilets in different municipal wards of Bhagalpur Municipal Corporation (BMC) under the Smart City Mission (SCM) project.
The 25 e-toilets will be constructed at 12 locations in the town. The selected areas are Lajpat Park (2 units), Tilka Manjhi (2 units), Kutchery Chowk (3 units), Burhanath (2 units), Ghanta Ghar-Kutchery Chowk Road (2 units), Kutchery-Tilka Manjhi Road (2 units), Kotwali Chowk (2 units), Adampur Chowk (2 units), Vivekanand road-Sharda Sangeet Sadan (2 units), near Bhagalpur railway station (2 units), near Bihar State Road Transport bus depot (2 units) and koyla depot-Khanjarpur (2 units).
BSCL sources said Rs2.6 crore will be spent on the 25 e-toilets, for which financial bid is being finalized. Required facilities and equipment, including smart water meter and water supply system, soak-pit, septic tank, automatic electronic door system, auto-flushing and auto-cleaning, electricity connection, smart electrical and motorized devices will be provided for the functioning of smart e-toilets.
Prafull Chandra Yadav, the managing director (MD) of BSCL and municipal commissioner, said the detail architectural design, including civil and plan layouts, had been finalized and the bidding process was in the final stages.
“Works related to smart e-toilets would start soon. These will be ultramodern e-toilets to assist residents, passersby and travellers,” Yadav said.
He added: “Two companies have been shortlisted and the works will be allotted after final approval. After the commissioning of the smart e-toilets, the service provider will be maintaining and upkeeping the e-toilets for five consecutive years.”
Bhagalpur was selected under the ‘Smart Cities Mission’, a central government sponsored scheme launched in June 2015, in the second list for smart cities in May 2016. The central government had proposed to spend Rs80,789 crore over five financial years (FY) starting from FY 2015-2016 with a plan outlay of Rs100 crore on an average per year for the city’s development and an equal amount to be contributed by the state. Subsequently, BSCL was incorporated for implementing the projects.