The Bombay High Court on Tuesday pulled up Maharashtra's civic corporations for not following its order on providing public toilets for women at places they frequent. The court said if its directions are not followed by April 30, it will issue a show-cause notice of contempt against the civic bodies.

According to dna, the civic bodies have constructed only 14 toilets out of the proposed 48 blocks in Mumbai, while not a single toilet has been built in Navi Mumbai, a grave defiance of the court order. On hearing this, a division bench of justices Abhay Oka and GS Kulkarni gave the corporators time till the next hearing to provide a deadline by which they would build the facilities. The court has also asked the civic bodies to ensure that the toilets have water, electricity, and security as well as tampon and sanitary napkin dispensers with disposal bins, provisions for the differently-abled and cleaning equipment. The court also said to make sure they are clean and there are signs indicating their location in parts of the city.

In December 2015, the court had asked municipal corporations to be more progressive and inclusive while designing urban infrastructure, saying women had equal rights to safe and clean toilets at convenient places. “Providing toilets for women walking on the streets is an integral part of the civic amenities and corporations cannot ignore their statutory duty. The health of a city is inextricably linked to its toilets and it is imperative to provide them in sufficient numbers,” the bench had observed, according to The Indian Express.