Travelling in India has always been a challenge; more so, due to the lack of restrooms at the highway. To resolve this problem, Maharashtra Government has announced that 100 Petrol pumps along the state highways would get mandatory space for public toilets, internet, Restaurants, ATM Facilities, Parking Facilities and Telephone facilities. Additionally, the state has also identified 300 more petrol pump locations where this facility will be introduced.

A meeting was held for the same and was attended by Chandrakant Patil (PWD Minister), Ram Shinde (Minister- Water Conservation ), Manukumar Shrivastav (Principal Secretary-Urban Development), Ashish Kumar Singh (Principal Secretary – PWD), Delegates of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd , Hindustan Petroleum and other senior officers.

The government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with three public sector oil companies – Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum and Indian Oil to set up these facilities. These companies will choose sites, identified by the government, along highway locations. Five acres of land will be leased to the companies for the petrol pump.

Public works Department Minister, Chandrakant Patil said, “Public Toilets are not available everywhere except bus stations, so travelling through highways, especially for women is an inconvenienced. To overcome this problem we have planned to build nearly 400 toilets at every 500 meters on state highways. The lessee will have to comply with construction conditions such as specified design and size for the toilets and this facility would be free of cost.” He further added saying that “At the same time the state government would be receiving income from the rented land which will further benefit the rural areas.”