Info on 58,000 public toilets available on Google Maps: Puri to Rajya Sabha

Information on around 58,000 public toilets across 2,500 cities are now available on Google Maps, which is helping the government to maintain the public sanitation facilities on a real-time basis, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday.

While replying to the concerns raised by some of the members during a debate in Rajya Sabha over lack of facilities such as water, cleanliness etc at the public toilets, Puri said, "These are all complaints of a bygone era" and almost five years old.

"Nowadays, information on these toilets are publicly available. (Information on) 58,000 toilets across 2,500 cities are available on Google Maps," Puri said.

The Union minister for Housing and Urban Affairs added that during his field visits in the earlier period of his tenure, he had directed officials to provide the coordinates of each toilets, so that it is accessible on the internet.

He has also directed them to make available the name of the person or official responsible for its cleanliness.

"Today, if a toilet is not maintained or if it is not usable then we are able to fix it with the use of technology on a real-time basis," Puri said, adding "these complaints has decreased considerably."