The new pay-and-use toilets in the city will sport a design radically different from the existing ones.

The first such structure will soon be unveiled at Chaplin Square, off New Market.

The new public toilets will come up under the civic body?s Calcutta Environment Improvement project, with funds from the Asian Development Bank.

?We want to add some architectural flavour and colour to the structures, as the people?s attitude towards life has changed drastically,? said mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya.

The Chaplin Square toilet has been designed following the architectural conventions prevailing around the time the Calcutta Municipal Corporation building was constructed 125 years ago.

?The pay-and-use toilets will be clean and maintained properly,? said director-general (civil) Nilangshu Bose.

The construction cost of the toilets will be higher than the Sulabh Complex utilities of the 1990s, but much less than those coming up at Deshapriya Park or Nivedita Udyan, he pointed out.

The civic authorities have also decided not to set up any more free uninal, as they ?turn out to be a major source of pollution and stench in the locality?, said an official.

The city now has 119 pay-and-use toilets. Work orders have been passed for 25 more such utilities. Till 2001, there were 90 public toilets in the city.

Even after setting up over 130 Sulabh Complex and pay- and-use toilets across the city, there are around 50 free urinals in various pockets.