15 She Toilets cruising around in Chennai – CM Stalin’s next blockbuster scheme

One of the ambitions of the Dravidian model government is to empower women and it has done that rightly so by introducing several schemes which shattered the obstacles in the path of women empowerment. One such scheme is the free bus ride scheme, introduced by CM Stalin to make the commuting more easy on the women.

The next head-turner scheme of the Dravidian model government is Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai scheme, which basically is a financial assistance scheme for women, instead it was pursued as a financial entitlement scheme. As a continuation of introducing women empowerment schemes, recently CM Stalin has made 'Pink Colour Thozhi' (literally translates as Pink coloured friend - referring to She Toilets) to cruise around the Chennai district.

A brief about Pink Colour Thozhi:

Despite being the capital of Tamil Nadu, Chennai is in need of undergoing basic structural changes to ensure holistic development. Reason being, the inefficiency of ADMK government to bring in the needed infrastructural developments for the past 10 years. In Chennai district, there are no sufficient bus stop shelters or women toilets to make the commuters' journey comfortable.

Particularly, women commuters find it hard to attend nature's call throughout their travel owing to the unavailability of the facilities. Realising this difficulty faced by women, the CM Stalin made a conscious decision and launched 'mobile restrooms and make-up room' otherwise called as She Toilets in the pink colour, the favourite colour of majority women.

In Chennai district, there are 800 functional public toilets, 200 electronic toilets, 250 modern make-up rooms/restrooms etc. The new entry to the list is the 'She toilets' introduced by the Chennai Corporation recently. Minister Nehru has purchased 15 mobile restroom vehicles for women at a cost of 4.37 crore under the Nirbhaya scheme.

Each vehicle manufactured in Delhi, costs around 29.13 lakhs equipped with 4 toilets (3 Indian and 1 western toilet), sanitisers, mirrors, a changing room, an LED screen explaining the schemes of the government, a tank with 1000 litre capacity to store the required water and a tank to store the used waste water.

Public opinion about the She Toilets:

An employee of a private hotel said, "Unlike the restrooms in our hotels, She Toilets are very comfortable for usage. My heartfelt thanks to CM Stalin for such a conscious decision." Another woman who is a daily wage labourer, described the pristine condition of the She Toilets and the benefit it provides for the women.

The interesting thing about She Toilets is that it benefits a wide range of people by moving around the crowded places in the city instead of being stable at a place. The stable toilets are ineffective and unattended most of the time. The plastic toilets brought by the ADMK government are serving as breeding grounds for disease.

According to Chennai Mayor Priya, such a modern facilitated She Toilet is introduced for the first time in Chennai city only. "After knowing the utility for women, She Toilets are planned to be expanded to other zones as well", said Priya.