GUWAHATI, April 6 � The Commissioner, Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC), through an order, has directed the hotels, restaurants, cinema halls, auditoriums, malls, marriage halls (Bibah Bhavans), etc, under its jurisdiction to maintain proper hygiene and sanitation in their respective premises and toilets, especially for women.
Failure to comply with the directive would result in cancellation of trade licence, the GMC directive, which takes cognizance of the fact that Guwahati particularly lacks hygienic toilet facilities for women, said.
Moreover, the hotels, restaurants, etc, are required to cooperate with lady police constables on duty in their area by providing toilet facilities as a gesture of goodwill and welfare towards women engaged in public service. The hotels/restaurants/Bibah Bhavans, etc, are to provide the facility with immediate effect and they are to intimate compliance of the same to the government immediately.
The GMC�s intervention came following a representation made by an NGO, Avas Foundation, which had conducted a survey in prime localities of the city on March 14 and 15.
The survey found that there were few or no public toilets for the lady traffic constables who were regularly on duty across various localities of the city such as GS Road, RG Baruah Road, Zoo Tiniali, Guwahati Club, Ulubari, Dispur, Ganeshguri, Bharalumukh, Panbazar, Lakhtokia, etc.
�We have found that women, especially those like lady constables who happen to remain on the road for long hours in connection with their jobs, suffer serious hardships for want of hygienic public toilet facilities. We hope that the GMC�s intervention would lead to the desired results,� Sharmistha Deka, secretary, Avas Foundation, told The Assam Tribune.
Deka said that the NGO has urged the government to look into the matter seriously so that arrangements for toilets could be made for these lady constables who render their services day in and day out. �We emphasized that this would also benefit women in general,� she added.
The GMC directive mentioned the following hotels, restaurants, and marriage halls (on the basis of their proximity to locations of duty of lady police personnel) to provide adequate toilet facilities � Decora Bibah Bhavan (Zoo Tinilai traffic point), Ambika Celebration (Zoo Tiniali bus stop), Nivrity Lodge (Dispur, in front of the Secretariat), Capital Lodge (Dispur Last Gate), Hotel Nivedan (Dispur Super Market), Ambarish Hotel (Ganeshguri), Dispur Dhaba (Ganeshguri), Rangpur Guest House (Ganeshguri), Upasom Public Toilet run by GMDA (Ulubari, under flyover), Kalpana Market (Guwahati Club traffic point), Apollo Hotel (Bharalumukh traffic point), Blue Diamond Hotel (Panbazar traffic point near the water treatment plant), DC Court campus (Panbazar), New Anand Hotel (Panbazar HB Road point), Broad View Hotel (Panbazar-Lakhtokia), and Minerva Hotel (Dighalipukhuri, Reserve Bank point).
