Varanasi first city in UP to get toilets mapped on Google

In an alien city, when nature calls, what do you do?

But if you are in Varanasi, just go to Google Maps and type Swachh Toilet. All the community toilets and urinals near you will be visible on your phone screen. It is a great facility for tourists visiting the city.

Varanasi has become the first city in the state that has successfully mapped 235 community toilets and urinals constructed across it on Google Maps.

Municipal Commissioner Dr Nitin Bansal said, “Mapping of the 235 community toilets and urinals has been done. One may check the location of the nearest toilet or urinal by typing Swachh Toilet. As soon as one types Swachh Toilet, the nearest toilets and urinals will be visible on the mobile screen.” He added that so far, the facility was available only in Delhi, Mumbai, Bhopal and Indore.

He said that 361 community toilets and urinals have been constructed in Varanasi city under Swachh Bharat mission. Information about the remaining 126 toilets and urinals will be available on Google Maps soon.

Feedback machines

What’s more, the Varanasi Municipal Corporation has also installed 17 feedback machines at the community toilets constructed under the Swachh Bharat Mission. The machine has three buttons: green-Clean, yellow-OK and red-Dirty. As one presses the button, the feedback will immediately reach the sanitation survey team in Delhi.

“After being declared ODF, we are working to get the status of ODF plus for the city. Various steps have been taken to improve cleanliness in the city,” Bansal said.

For the sanitation survey 2019, the government has set targets of ODF plus and ODF Double plus to the ODF cities. Varanasi has already been declared ODF by Quality Council of India (QCI). There are certain parameters for getting the ODF plus tags. ODF plus aims at motivating more and more people to use toilets and take steps for maintaining cleanliness at community toilets and urinals.