The stink emanating from defunct public toilets in Hadwara town of Kupwara district is causing immense inconvenience to the residents. People alleged that the Municipal Committee, Handawara, has failed to make toilets properly functional and most of them were lacking water facility. “The Handwara Municipal Committee last year claimed to have spent lakhs of rupees on construction of lavatory blocks at different places, but none is of use to people due to shortage of water,” said a Handawara resident. “The municipality did not bother to maintain these blocks and just after few weeks of their use the toilets started stinking,” he said. The toilet block near Government Girls Higher Secondary School and Handwara bus stand are particularly causing lot of trouble to the passersby. “What is the point of constructing public toilets if they are of no use to anybody. Instead it is causing inconvenience to people and visitors. These toilets should be either made functional or closed,” said Mohammad Sayeed Shah. Students of various educational institutions also complained of inconvenience. “In the absence of proper toilets, we are forced to visit restaurants to attend nature’s call. We appeal the municipal authorities to make these toilets functional at the earliest,” said a student of Girls Higher Secondary School, Handwara. There are 14 municipality wards in Handwara town, consisting over 20,300 shops, educational institutions, revenue and other government offices, but not even a single lavatory is functional in the area, alleged a local. Executive Officer of the Handwara Municipal Committee Habibullah Darzi said: “Last week we made some toilet blocks functional, rest of the blocks will also be made functional in a few days.