BHUBANESWAR/CUTTACK: Come December and people in the state capital will easily be able to find their way to the public toilet nearest to them with the help of their phones and the internet. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started the process of uploading the location and other data related to public toilets on Google Maps.The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) will also make all 42 functional toilets under it visible on Google Maps. "A private firm has been roped in for the purpose. Several toilets that are under construction will also be displayed online after they become operational," said CMC mayor Meenakshee Behera, adding that the process will be completed by the end of November.The BMC has taken up the task with the help of the Quality Council of India (QCI), an autonomous body set up by the Centre and premier industry associations. An expert from the QCI reached the BMC office here on Thursday to train officials of the Swachh Bhubaneswar Abhiyan Cell to give them an idea on the system. "The date will be collected with the help of local sanitary inspectors within three days. It will then be given to the QCI expert," said an official of the BMC.He said the data pertaining to the toilets will be given to Google via the ministry of housing and urban affairs and the QCI. "Google has so far uploaded data on accessible public toilets in 45 cities. Many cities like Bhubaneswar are under the process of going online," he added."Sanitary inspectors were asked to load the required data through a mobile application called Collect. It will collect information such as the ward number, location, category of toilet, address, PIN code, opening and closing time, the gender for whom the toilet is available, the fee they charge for use of the facility, photos of the toilets from various angles, inside and outside and how to approach it from a nearby main road," said Kushal Srivastava of the QCI.Srivastava said toilets in parks, lakes, government buildings, malls, shopping complexes, government hospitals, railway stations, bus terminals along with BMC toilets and those maintained by Sulabh International and NGOs can be listed in the map. "Private toilets will not be uploaded," he said, adding that the facility will be available on the Android operating system only.It will also have a feedback system through which people can rate the toilets.The city has more than 150 public, community and hybrid toilets, but some of them are situated inside slum colonies and private areas. So there will be around 110 toilets eligible for the final listing, a source said.(With inputs from Manabesh Mohanty in Cuttack)

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