Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) has decided to construct toilets for transgender people and the first transgender toilet facility will come up at Biju Patnaik Park.
According to officials, the toilet for transgender people, or gender neutral toilet, would be built as per specifications laid down by the Public Works department and Public Health Engineering Organisation.
“Once the work order is issued, the facility would be available for use within one month’s time by the contractor. It would cost about `3.6 lakh to the development authority,” said a top BDA official.
Once this facility is opened, Orissa would become the fifth state in India to have toilets for the transgenders. So far, Punjab University, Mysore Municipal Corporation, Bhopal Municipal Corporation and Kochi Metro have set up such toilets for the third gender.
After Mysore, Bhopal is the second city in the country where a separate toilet has been constructed for the transgender community by the urban local body. The Bhopal facility, however, has a “changing room/make-up room” for the users. Different signage for men, women, handicapped and transgender people are emblazoned on the doors of the toilet in Bhopal.
Kochi Metro, meanwhile, has set an example by providing all-gender restrooms after Mysore and Bhopal. During a training session for its first set of transgender recruits, officials of the new metro rail company in the south Indian port city first made an internal survey on the basic requirements of their new staff and then came to know that the exclusive toilet for the transgender was the most desired one.
In all the toilets, meant for the transgender community across the nation, the signages have inclusive design elements.
PNN
