Feb 07 2015 : The Times of India (Chennai)
11 stations at a stretch have LOCKED TOILETS
Chennai:
Beach-Tambaram...
more... Line Has Only One Functional Loo
There is little to show what the padlocked facilities at one end of suburban stations are used for, except the lingering stench.
After years of locking horns with Southern Railway officials, commuters cheered when toilets came up at suburban stations. But most of them have remained locked for two months now.
On Friday, when TOI surveyed toilets on the 25-km Chennai Beach-Tambaram section, only one, in Tambaram, was open.
The rest were either padlocked or used to dump garbage. In places such as Pazhavanthangal, Pallavaram and Tambaram Sanatorium, there were no toilets.
Commuters say some of these structures, a short distance from the main station, turn dens of anti-socials at night.
“Every night I cross the facility at Tirusulam to get out of the station. I see drunk men staggering out,” said K Soundarya, a secretary at a Saidapet firm. The thick vegetation shrouding the toilet added to her fear, she said.
Train services remain the predominant mode of transport for thousands of commuters in the southern suburbs between St Thomas Mount and Tambaram mainly for the frequency of trains and speed. On average, the commuter traffic at the eight stations between St Thomas Mount and Tambaram is more than 2 lakh.
However, poor sanitation has for years been a pressing issue. Even Tambaram station which boasts of 24 express trains and 244 EMU trips between Chennai beach and Tambaram, has poor sanitation. The toilet, not immediately accessible for passengers, was opened on Thursday following complaints.
A senior Southern Railway official said the contract with a private firm for maintaining toilets had ended in December 2014. A tender was floated in January but there are no takers. “The private firm in charge of maintenance has refused to step in saying it had incurred huge losses in maintaining the toilets, which were paid facilities,” said the official.
Activists say the facilities were bad even when maintained by the private firm.
“We conducted a survey five months ago and found only 20% of toilets at the 47 stations we surveyed were usable. The rest were either locked or too dirty to use. Some didn’t have water,” said Siva Elango of Satta Panchayat Iyakkam, an NGO. He suggested that Southern Railway take over maintenance.
Sanitary experts say poor patronage for toilets could be due to limited accessibility. At most stations, toilets are away from the main building and there are no signs guiding passengers there. “Toilets have to be accessible, well-lit and integrated into the main building. They can't be isolated. People have to feel safe,“ said water and sanitation specialist Sowmya Sethuraman. “If firms are sceptical about taking the contract, officials should invite all the stakeholders and explain their needs and chart out a plan.“
