Restrooms of hotels and restaurants, including those of five stars, in Guwahati city are now open to non-customers. Provisions have been included in the municipality license for allowing people to use these facilitates in line with the Centre’s guidelines on the use of public toilet facilities to avoid open defecation. The guidelines issued by the Centre says that all hotels irrespective of their star category have to allow the general public to use their toilets as public toilets.
Lamenting about the lack of enough public toilets in the city, GMC Commissioner Debeshwar Malakar said people can use toilet facilities in hotels and restaurants without placing orders for food.
Malakar said violations would invite monetary penalties. He said that people who pass genuine information regarding violations will be rewarded Rs 500 and the informants’ identity would be kept confidential. The smartphone numbers with WhatsApp facilities have been set up for informants: 8811007000, 7399003001-2-3-4.
