Jaipur: As the winter tourism season and New Year celebrations bring record footfall, Jaipur’s Walled City is facing an unexpected but serious problem: a shortage of public toilets. While thousands of tourists visit heritage landmarks such as Hawa Mahal, City Palace, Jantar Mantar, and the busy markets of the Pink City every day, basic sanitation facilities remain grossly inadequate.The Walled City receives 20,000 to 25,000 visitors on an average day, a number that nearly doubles during peak tourist weeks. Despite this, there is only one functional mobile public toilet in this entire heritage zone, which is located near Hawa Mahal. Shopkeepers and residents say the situation is turning into a daily struggle. “Tourists spend hours walking through the markets and monuments. When they can’t find toilets, they keep asking us or rush into lanes looking for facilities. It creates discomfort and hygiene issues,” said Ramesh Sharma, a handicrafts trader in the area. Local resident Renu Devi said women and elderly people are the worst affected. “Many people have to walk long distances or go back to hotels and cafés just to use a toilet. It spoils their entire visit,” she said.Tourists have also raised the same concerns. “Jaipur is beautiful, but the lack of public toilets is surprising. In a heritage city that attracts visitors from all over the world, this should be a basic facility,” said Lindsay, a foreign tourist visiting the Pink City. Urban planners point out that the absence of an adequate number of public toilets in the Walled City, which has hundreds of shops, street vendors, and thousands of pedestrians every day, affects cleanliness and tarnishes Jaipur’s image as a global tourist destination. Officials of the Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) said proposals to install more mobile and permanent public toilets in the Walled City are under consideration. However, for now, on the ground, visitors continue to struggle, highlighting a gap between planning and reality in one of the state’s busiest tourist hubs.
Massive tourist rush in Walled City brings lack of public loos into focus | Jaipur News
