Kolkata, Jun 24 (IANS): Kolkata will get the country's first two-storey public toilets.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will build 170 such toilets across the city. Each will cost Rs.18 lakh, of which Rs.17 lakh will come from the central government.
"Half of them will come up in November," KMC mayor-in-council member Atin Ghosh told IANS.
The ground floors will be for women and the top floors for men. Presently the city has 225 public toilets.
The toilets will be maintained by self-help groups.
"We have decided to build two-storey public toilets primarily because of space crunch," Ghosh said.
Soon after taking power last year, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had voiced concern over the lack of public toilets in the city and asked Mayor Sovan Chatterjee to solve the problem.