Almost immediately after the news and photographs of a public toilet in which torn gunny bags doubled-up as curtains was uploaded on the website of The Free Press Journal on Friday and published in the newspaper on the following day, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) woke up from its slumber and started fitting new doors for the toilet cubicles on Saturday.
The FPJ article had gone viral on various social media platforms.
Torn gunny bags double up as curtains at the community toilet located in Jai Ambe Nagar-a sprawling slum cluster near the station in Bhayandar (west) due to missing doors. The worst affected are the women who are forced to defecate in the toilet cubicles that did not have doors.
The toilet in Mira-Bhayandar | Suresh Golani
FPJ Impact: Before and after pic of the toilet which now has doors instead of gunny bags used as curtains | Suresh Golani
Gunny bags doubled-up as curtains | Suresh Golani
One of the new doors that was fitted by the MBMC | Suresh Golani
“After standing instructions from the municipal commissioner, we have started installing doors and the work will be completed today itself. A meeting has also been scheduled on Monday to review the conditions of all community toilets and carry out needed repair and renovation works.” said newly appointed deputy municipal commissioner- Sachin Bangar.
MBMC’s sanitation department has rolled up its sleeves to fix /replace broken doors and plumbing apparatus like taps and also clear clogged pipes, manholes and other sewer systems with the help of suction machines.
The twin-city has 201 community toilet complexes, comprising more than 3,500 toilet seats, and most of them were built under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) under the Nirmal Abhiyan. Following several complaints regarding shabby work, the civic administration had terminated the contract of maintaining public toilets awarded to a private agency.
As a stop gap arrangement, the conservancy workers attached to the MBMC have been roped in to shoulder the responsibility of maintaining the community toilets after the termination of the contract.
