Bhopal: No She At She Lounges; Only Dust, Dirt & Inoperative Vending Incinerators

BHOPAL (Madhya Pradesh): Twin facilities launched in the city to make women footfall to public places more convenient and comfortable are no longer serving their purpose. The two She Lounges are poorly maintained whereas the Aanchal Kaksh at ISBT has been replaced with a ëShe Lounge cum Feeding Roomí about which few women seem to know.

'She Lounges' were established at Polytechnic Square and 10 No Market in the city during the term of Alok Sharma as Mayor. Sharma is now a Lok Sabha member from Bhopal. At that time, he had announced that She Lounges would be set up in all municipal wards of the city. The lounges were supposed to have seating facilities for women, clean drinking water, toilet, sanitary napkin vending machine and incinerator for destroying used sanitary pads.

A visit to the She Lounge at Polytechnic Square on Saturday, however, revealed that neither the vending machine nor the incinerator is working. Panels of false ceiling are hanging from the roof, exposing the wiring. There is no hand wash in the toilet and there is dust all around. Even there is no power and water supply.

The shopkeeper adjoining the She Lounge told Free Press that the woman attendant supposed to maintain the place 'comes off and on'. He said that the condition, mainly panels of false ceiling, exposing the wiring were the same for over a year. 'We did inform the owner but nothing was done,' he says.

The condition is almost the same at the She Lounge at 10 No Market. The vending and incinerator machines does not function and there is no hand wash in the hand wash holder. The false ceiling panels are hanging here as well. Woman attendant Babita said that women working in nearby shops come to the She Lounge. At both lounges, there were water bottles but without water.

The Aanchal Kaksha - a space for women to feed their babies - at ISBT has been closed and replaced by a 'She Lounge cum Feeding Room', which is at some distance from the waiting room. A few seem to know about it and fewer still use it. The sofas at the Lounge have not been dusted for months. There is dirt and cobwebs all around. The blades of the wall-mounted fan are covered with dust.

"I never knew about these problems. Now that you have told me, I will get them resolved as soon as possible." --- Shivakant Shukla, lessee, She Lounges