Toilets for urban areas

The State government will construct toilets and solid waste management units in urban areas across the State with funds allocated under the Centre’s Swacch Bharath initiative, Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake said on Thursday.

The department will also build public urinals in such areas, Sorake told reporters here.He said the Urban Development Department will send the municipality commissioners of five cities – Kalaburagi, Belagavi, Hubballi-Dharwad, Mangaluru and Mysuru corporations – to attend a meeting on Smart City scheduled for January 30 by the Union government.

He said the government had sought ‘smart city’ status for 10 cities in Karnataka. “We have been told that in the first list of names, no city in Karnataka has been selected for the ‘smart city’ tag. But I was told by Venkaiah Naidu (Union minister) that our request will be considered in the next list of cities,” he said.