Using the toilet in school was an ordeal for 15-year-old Vineetha two years ago because of poor sanitation and cleanliness. For the class 10 student at ZPHS Kodurupadu School in Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh, that is now in the past with eToilets being installed in the premises.
eToilets are unmanned toilets which work on an indigenous technology and are placed on a cement or metal base. On the roof is a 225-litre-capacity water tank connected to the three flushes (pre-flush/platform washing/after-use flush). A display light outside shows whether the unit is occupied (red) or unoccupied (green).
There are different variants of eToilets, starting from the Rs 1 lakh school model to the Rs 4 lakh public model.
A total of 2,000 eToilets have currently been installed in 20 states: Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
Keeping Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat Mission in mind, Baby said that Eram is also planning to tie up with the 100 Smart Cities project where eToilets can play a crucial role in providing seamless, sustainable sanitation solutions.