The city, which is better known as the Manchester of Punjab, has only 40 public conveniences. This means one for every 50,000 people.

A Newsline survey revealed that over one third of the toilets are out of order while almost all of them are in a bad shape. Most of the toilets are so filthy that people prefer using corners of sideways or roadsides to relieve themselves.

As per the data collected by the Newsline, Zone A has 14 latrine sets and two urinals. There are six public toilets each in Zone B and C, while Zone D has six latrine sets and five urinal sets.

The lack of public toilets in main market areas and crowded locations leave people with no other option but to use roadsides.

It is also noteworthy that there are no public urinals in some highly crowded areas like Samrala Chowk.

“What do we do in case of an emergency? If you do not find a place to urinate in the vicinity in such a situation, one has to empty his full bladder somewhere,” said a resident.

The pathetic condition of the public toilets shows how much the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation (LMC) cares for its residents. When asked about the maintenance of the public toilets in the city, the officials of the health wing of the LMC conveniently passed the buck to others.

"We are not responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of public toilets. It is the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) wing of the corporation that deals with it," said Charanjit Singh Uppal, Medical Officer of the LMC.

On the other hand, KS Dhillon, Superintending Engineer (SE), O&M Cell, said his department was only responsible for water supply and sewerage problems.

However, one out of every five chief sanitary inspectors of the LMC, on the condition of anonymity, admitted that the condition of the toilets was deplorable.

He said some public toilets had therefore been handed over to Sulabh International, Chandigarh, for their upkeep, but also admitted that more than half the existing number of public toilets were out of order. Meanwhile, there are public toilets such as the ones at Model Town market and Sarabha Nagar market, which live up to the hygiene standards.

"The public convenience in the market is looked after by the market association and last year we also added a separate urinal for women," said Rajiv Mehra, president of Sarabha Nagar Market Association, adding that the toilet at the office of Zone D of LMC was such a bad experience that one should not expect anything better from the LMC for the general public.