guwahati lack of sufficient public toilets and the deplorable condition of the existing ones are a major concern for a city of 12 lakh population especially where women are concernedguwahati voters feel due to the governments lack of interest in providing basic facilities to the people thousands of women face hardships everyday when they go outthe city has 11 public toilets installed by the guwahati municipal corporation while 21 biotoilets were handed over to the gmc by the guwahati smart city limited in january however not a single toilet has been installed especially for women in the city as a result of which women find it inconvenient to use the existing common toiletsa professor of gauhati university said the government should take note of the need for providing toilets to women hygiene and proper water supply to the toilets is a must to prevent various infections the professor saidshe urged political parties to take the issue seriously as it is directly related to the health of women jyotirupa kalita a resident of geetanagar area in the gauhati east constituency said the existing toilets in the city are in deplorable conditions the negligence of the general public is also a contributing factor as a result some of these toilets are being used as garbage dumps not only women men also hesitate to use public toilets because they are so unhygienic she addedshe further said that the government should take the matter seriously for the convenience of the women as all the four legislative constituencies that fall in the city have over 50 women voters womens empowerment is incomplete without these basic needs she addedthere are 573290 504 women voters out of 1137375 voters in the cityironically posters and hoardings are being displayed at public places urging the public not to urinate in open spaces the area adjacent the assam state transport corporation complex at paltan bazar has become an openair toilet it is used by innumerable people a stretch of the footpath has been blocked for the makeshift toilet much to the inconvenience of pedestriansan autorickshaw driver said as theres no public toilet in this area the bazar committee has made this toilet on the footpath we face problems but we cant do anything as this facility is made available by the committee we have to put up with such unhyenic conditionsa gmc official said insufficient space to construct toilets is the fundamental problem the authority has sufficient funds to construct toilets but theres no space he saidit may be mentioned that the guwahati smart city limited had earlier installed several biotoilets in the city but could not hand them over to the gmc as a number of water flushing units were stolen by miscreants however 21 toilets were completed and handed over to gmc in january this yearit may be mentioned that in 2019 the gmc had directed hotels and restaurant owners to allow women and children to use toilets on their premises for free in a bid to provide