Nagpur: When a team of National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (Neeri) and Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT) scientists visited Lahaul and Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh, local communities urged them to find a clean and sustainable solution to dispose of human waste.The traditional dry toiletsused by the locals over centuries resulted in foul stench and piled up human waste.The major challenge before the native population was safe disposal of piled up human waste as freezing temperatures slowed down the natural decomposition process. The recent influx of tourists only made matters worse for the locals.A year on, Neeris wastewater division team came up with dry toilets to do away with manual scavenging. The dry toilets ensure early decomposition of faeces and conversion of wate into manure for farms. The IHBT improvised the existing compost booster to make it easily complement the dry flush system.The dry toilets, patented by Neeri and developed in consultation with IHBT, are ready for installation in the hilly district.The toilets have been designed by senior principal scientist Ritesh Vijay, principal scientist Rima Biswas, scientist Abhishek Bisariya and PhD scholar Amit Kumar.Atul Vaidya, director, Neeri, said that the new toilet will be a boon for the local population. The existing ground+1 dry toilets used in the Himalayan region are unhygienic. The dry toilets shall help utilize the processed waste for farming purposes, he said.Vijay said that the waterless flush comprises compost booster. The booster covers the faeces and removes foul smell. The separate collection chambers for urine and faeces take five to six months to fill up if used by a family of four to five. Himalayan region is full of apple orchards, broccoli, cauliflower, capsicum, etc where the manure produced by the toilets can be used, Vijay said.The dry toilets help conserve water apart from providing manure, says IHBT director Sudesh Kumar Yadav. We decided to do away with the traditional toilets due to the foul smell they generated and the poor compost quality. Scientists started working on developing microbial formulations based on efficient indigenous hydrolytic bacteria that have plant growth-promoting activities, Yadav added.Neeris Rima Biswas and Rakshak Kumar, senior IHBT scientist, said that the non-separation of urine in the traditional system was hampering the compost maturation due to increased moisture content. The newly designed dry toilet has a proper urine separation mechanism, they said.We also published the following articles recentlyVoyeur sentenced to 1-yr RI for watching kid use public toiletA 26-year-old man was convicted and sentenced to one-year imprisonment by a special Pocso court for voyeurism. He was found guilty of watching a five-year-old child in a public toilet in 2015. The childs mother caught the accused staring at her daughter while she was defecating. The judge stated that the accused had sexual intentions and violated the childs privacy. The accused was also fined Rs 2,000, to be paid as compensation to the victim.GMCH unlocks toilets, unclogs sewage lines, relief for hundreds of OPD patientsGMCH administration unclogs sewer lines and opens locked toilets for OPD patients after reports of open defecation zone. OPD footfall at GMCH exceeds 3,000 per day. Bigger toilets planned as part of ongoing campus upgrade. TOI reports prompted action after patients and relatives were seen relieving themselves in the open. Existing toilets locked due to sewage overflow. Public allowed to use staff and department toilets temporarily. Separate toilets to be built for basic facilities, says GMCH dean.

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