Toilets at CST, Churchgate are waiting for Modi

Toilets at CST, Churchgate are waiting for Modi

Iram SiddiqueUpdated: Saturday, June 01, 2019, 08:06 AM IST
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Senior rly officials admit in private that the toilets are neglected as running trains is their priority

Mumbai : The Prime Minister talked about the importance of clean toilets from the Red Fort and repeated it a month-and-a-half later at Madison Square but the public toilets at Churchgate and CST, the headquarters of the Western and Central Railways are as bad as ever.

Despite being a World Heritage site, the toilet at CST stinks for a mile. The women’s toilet does not even have a proper commode. At Churchgate, the toilet stinks, the wash basins are dirty, the floor is slushy and the garbage bins are overflowing. Surprisingly, toilets at both places are flanked by eateries.

At CST, the railway police which is housed behind the toilet has to bear with the stink. Fed up with the lack of response from the railway authorities, the railway cops had a blockage in the toilet cleared themselves. The stink has been reduced but it is still there.

Senior railway officials admit in private that the toilets are neglected as running trains is their priority. They say that they are unable to get contractors for the maintenance of toilets. They also admit that half the toilets do not have exhaust fans.

CR’s Divisional Railway Manager, Mukesh Nigam, said, “We are taking measures to reduce the problem. Along with setting up 20 new toilets there will also be automatic flushing system at the toilet coming up in Thane.” He admitted that the CST toilet was in a mess and added that he would “look into it.”

The Western Railway took note of the stink at Churhgate only after the railway board chairman Arunendra Kumar pointed it out in April. Ever since, they have installed an exhaust fan and added chemicals to break down urea. The stink has reduced marginally.

Pooja Rohtekar from Goa, who used the Churchgate toilet told FPJ, “The toilet is very dirty and there are buckets without mugs. If Goa can have clean public toilets, then why not Mumbai?”

WR’s Divisional Railway Manager, Shailendra Kumar, said, “The toilets on the stations are overused as not only those travelling in trains but also people come from outside to use it.”

Chief PRO of WR, Sharat Chandrayan, said, “It has been a month since we have roped in Sulabh International for the maintenance of the toilets.”

Subhash Gupta of Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh said, “The railways should take immediate action to improve the condition to the toilet at the major stations of the economic capital of the city. The DRM’s should take it up seriously. I will take it up with the railway authorities.”

iram Siddique

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