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Smart toilets in India are clean, hygienic and a safe space for women – meet the start-ups building tech-enabled rest stops along the nation’s roads

  • Start-ups in India have taken advantage of the government’s seeming unconcern at the lack of clean, female-friendly bathrooms along the nation’s highways
  • A number of entrepreneurs have created tech-enabled toilets that offer extras such as cafes, stores, Wi-fi, feeding/nappy changing rooms, showers and lounges

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A Travlounge on the Salem-Kochi (Kerala) highway in India. Indian start-ups are establishing tech-enabled toilets on the country’s highways, much to the relief of women travellers who often face dirty, unusable bathrooms. Photo: Travlounge

Eight years ago, Neelam Singh was on a night bus from Indore to Udaipur, northern Indian cities about 400km (nearly 250 miles) apart.

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It was past midnight when the bus stopped in a small town and she and her husband, Yashwant Suthar, left to use the bathroom.

The women’s toilets were dirty and unusable, so Singh explored the surrounding wilderness for somewhere to relieve herself. Her husband stood guard, but what ensued left Singh traumatised.

A group of men accosted her and tried to get physical. Suthar chased them away but the damage had been done: it took months for Singh to overcome the incident.
Yashwant Suthar (left) and Neelam Singh co-founded Lootel in India in 2017. Photo: Lootel
Yashwant Suthar (left) and Neelam Singh co-founded Lootel in India in 2017. Photo: Lootel
Two years later, in 2017, the couple co-founded Lootel, to provide staffed smart bathrooms for travellers that are clean, hygienic and safe for women to use.
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