Kolkata’s Tridhara Toilets: Too Little, Too Late for Transpeople?

Twenty-one-year-old Sobhan Mukherjee has come up with a unique initiative in Kolkata – separate toilets for the transgender community.

The move has been widely hailed as it is perhaps for the first time in India that such toilets have been conceived for the transgender people who are still considered pariahs.

Mukherjee managed to convince his local municipal councillor, Anita Kar Majumdar, to set aside two washrooms exclusively for the ‘others’ in the four pay-and-use toilets, in south Kolkata’s Bansdroni area.

Emergence of Tridhara Toilets

He has named the toilets ‘Tridhara’ (third power) as he considers that the transgender community is the third power in the society after the male and the female. The young graduate says that he was deeply moved by the indifferent attitude towards the community and always wanted to do something for them.

I was deeply moved by the plight of the transgender people as they are also part of the society, but are often humiliated and insulted. I thought that enough has been written about their condition and it’s now time to do something for them

Sobhan Mukherjee

The young graduate certainly deserves kudos for his work, but according to members belonging to the third sex a lot needs to be done.

Opening a toilet, that too by an individual, shows the lacklustre approach by the government in lending a helping hand to the transgender community.

Also Read: A Glimpse Into the Life of a Transgender Model in Delhi, in Photos

Recognition as ‘Equal Citizens’

The Centre had issued a directive in April this year that allowed transgender individuals to use toilets for men and women in the country.

On 3 April 2017, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation issued guidelines to the Swachh Bharat Gramin Mission and stated that members belonging to the third gender should be allowed to use public toilets, either male or female, of their choice. The statement mentioned that a “conscious effort” should be made to ensure that members of the transgender community are “recognised as equal citizens and users of toilets” under the ‘inclusivity’ norm.

Earlier, the Supreme Court in 2014 had recognised transgender people as the ‘third gender,’ which also included an order for separate toilets for members of the community in public places, but is yet to be implemented across the country.

Also Read: Meet the First Recipient of Kerala Govt Transgender Scholarship

Need for Gender Sensitisation

The transgender community says that the concept of inclusivity is a far cry as they are not allowed to use public toilets and face harassment on a daily basis.

We are still bullied and harassed and nothing has changed. We also face problems in hospitals since doctors are unable to decide where to admit us due to the absence of gender neutrality. I even had to spend a night in a burns ward at a government hospital after doctors refused to shift me where other patients were being treated

Raina Roy

The government should understand that gender sensitisation is needed to save us from abuses and sexual harassment. I strongly demand access in toilets at Sulabh complexes across the country

Raina Roy

Bengal Govt’s Transgender Development Board

Even the West Bengal government cannot escape from its own share of blame. The government had set up a Transgender Development Board in March 2015 with an aim to look into the educational, employment and healthcare needs of the community.

The board comprising 12 members included representatives from the transgender community with the Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja as its chairman.

Claiming that the board was the first of its kind in the country, the minister had announced then that the board would hand out identity cards, look after health and education needs and ensure their overall development.

The minister had said that states like Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have transgender development bodies but those are meant for welfare and not development.

Ranjita Sinha, who represents the community in the development board, has no qualms in admitting that nothing significant has been done by the government two years after the formation of the board.

Also Read: IGNOU Announces Course Fee Waiver For Transgender Students

How can the government claim to work for us even when it doesn’t have any accurate figures regarding our population? Most of the people of the LGBT community are too ashamed to reveal their identity before those going for Census at their homes. They should have taken our help by taking us along with them which they didn’t

Ranjita Sinha, Member, Transgender Development Board

Discrimination against the community is more prevalent in rural than in urban areas. Even the meetings of the board were irregular that shows the lack of seriousness in the government about solving our issues

Ranjita Sinha, Member, Transgender Development Board

Constraints for the Govt

Her anger is not without reason as there is no accurate data regarding the number of transgender individuals in West Bengal. The 2011 Census had pegged their number at 30,349 across the state. But those working with the community believe that over one lakh transgender people and hijras live in the state.

The allegations about the board not functioning properly were scoffed at by the state minister, Shashi Panja, who said that there was progress on this front.

We are doing our best to address their grievances. The priority is to build separate toilets for them as they face problems while using ladies and gents toilets in public places and are often turned away. All the issues would be sorted one by one. Funds are also a constraint for us. But the government is serious about them.

Shashi Panja, Minister for Women and Child Development, West Bengal

Also Read: #GoodNews: Free Education for Transgender Students at TN Varsity

(The writer is a Kolkata-based freelance journalist.)

Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam

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