Toilet and tea break under one roof; Patna to get ‘LooCafés’ at 6 locations

PATNA: Traffic and bad roads apart, another problem the daily commuters in Patna face is that of finding hygienic public toilets. To tackle this issue, Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) has taken an initiative to set up “LooCafés”—luxurious public washrooms — at six different locations in the city.
Municipal commissioner Animesh Kumar Parashar said in the first phase, the “LooCafes” will be built at six locations, two each on Exhibition Road, in Raja Bazaar and Kankerbagh.“As it requires less space, the proposed facilities will come up in the free spaces under flyovers. The work on the pilot project has already been started by a selected firm, which will also take care of its maintenance and hygiene,” he said.
He added that these would be attractively designed cafés with the facility of modern toilets where people can also have food and drinks.
Each facility will have three bio toilets (for men, women and specially-abled) on one side, and a cafe and an ATM on the other. The washrooms will be equipped with sanitary appliances and basic amenities like liquid soap and tissues and maintain standard hygiene, the PMC officials said.
The café, on the other hand, will serve tea, coffee, sandwiches and snacks. Each LooCafé, to be built over 170sqft area at a cost of Rs 10-15 lakh, can accommodate 20-25 people at a time, the PMC officials said, adding radio, WiFi facility, centrally air-conditioned and security arrangements like CCTV cameras are also being considered.
According to the PMC, the state-of-the-art facility will be made of shipping containers or pre-fabricated materials for long-term sustainability and the surrounding area will be covered with greenery. The PMC officials said that the LooCafés will be ready within a couple of months.