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This was true in most of the countries. It was in 1872 that the municipalities in France asked the private companies to manage public toilets for a lease period of 20 years. The private companies were also offering even amounts to government as they felt confident to recover the same through user charges. Ground floor owners were also being requested to construct latrines for use of the passersby. Previously known as Palais Royal Hotel in Paris, the owners started charging monthly fee from diners. Incidentally condoms were also sold as part of the facilities.
In India, when I founded Sulabh International in 1970 in a small village in Patna, people laughed at me when I proposed to introduce the pay-and-use toilets. But my approach has succeeded and today 10 million people use Sulabh facilities every day. Most of the public toilets are being given to us to construct and maintain on a 30 years base period at no charge to the State. At the beginning of the century most of the public toilets have gone underground in Europe, but in India these are still over ground. Much more attention is being given to construct these toilets on pay and use basis in slum areas where men pay half a rupee per use, the females and children avail of these facilities free. The facilities available include toilet, bathing or washing of clothes and to change clothes. We are also setting up primary health care center at these places. However, a lot of effort is required to get people's participation in efficient operation and maintenance of public toilets. This remains a big challenge to be met by NGOs. Based on my experience of the last 25 years, I am also convinced that only cooperation between Government and NGOs can make the sanitation program a success. Neither the NGOs nor the government can create an impact if they work in isolation.
Law and Citizens
In order to improve sanitary conditions, Governments in various countries also resorted to legal measures. Dirt by definition was considered as disorder, because it disrupts order of maintaining the environment.
In 1519 the provincial government of Normandy in France made provision of toilets compulsory in each house. The French government also passed a parliamentary decree to make cesspools in each house compulsory. Again a similar attempt was made in 1539. In Bordeaux in France, the government made construction of cesspools compulsory. It was tried again in 1668 when the Lieutenant of Police made construction of toilets compulsory. In England the first sanitation law was passed in 1848. In India the first sanitation bill was introduced in 1878. It tried to make construction of toilets compulsory even in huts of Calcutta - the capital of India at that time. The Bill even proposed construction of public toilets at the cost of neighboring houses. The government of India enacted another Sanitation Act in 1993. Under this Act construction of dry latrine and its manual cleaning was made an offence. But despite these enactments open defecation is rampant, proving that unless adequate social awareness is created in a developing country where instruments of state are weak and family income is low, it is a hard task to make significant progress in this area.