New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) has planned to outsource operation and maintenance of 50 public toilets to an external agency to boost facilities and image of the civic body, its mayor said on Thursday.

East Delhi Mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal allayed apprehensions that jobs of sanitation workers will be cut.

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"The idea is to have as a pilot project, a certain number of public toilets upgraded and maintained with a high-quality standard as seen at public conveniences located in Lutyens' Delhi," he said.

The EDMC will also earn revenues from it, as the chosen agency will get advertising rights to put up banners at certain places.

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"To strengthen and upgrade the civic services, the EDMC has planned to outsource the operation and maintenance of about 50 public conveniences at specified locations in its area on design, built, operate and transfer (DBOT) basis. The toilets will be operated, managed, and maintained on 'free user charge basis' for a period of 10 years," the EDMC said in a statement.

Municipal Commissioner Vikas Anand said the request for a proposal can be accessed on the EDMC website.

The last date of submission is September 15, he added.

According to the size of the community toilet complex or public toilet complex, the selected outsourced agency would be given space for advertising and commercial purposes, he said.

There are about 348 community toilets, public toilet complexes in areas under the EDMC jurisdiction, and if this experiment is successful then maintenance and operation of other toilets will also be done under this scheme, he was quoted as saying in the statement.

Anand said 'Swachh Bharat Mission' was launched by the Union government in October 2014, and the EDMC is committed to provide better civic services to its citizens.

For better upkeep of toilets, a team of ward-level officers and sanitary superintendents has been constituted who will ensure timely maintenance and cleanliness of toilets in their respective wards, officials said

The commissioner said in 2019, the corporation was certified as 'Open Defecation Free' and in 2020, it achieved 'ODF+' status.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)