Clean toilets a distant dream for suburban commuters

Broken taps, leaking faucets, smashed washbasins are the norm in the railway network that links the city and its neighbouring towns

June 19, 2019 01:06 am | Updated 07:59 am IST - CHENNAI

For the several thousand commuters using suburban trains daily, access to clean toilets remains a huge problem. Except for a handful of suburban railway stations including Moore Market Complex (MMC), Tambaram, Velachery and Perambur, several others are in crying need for attention. In many stations, toilets are kept under lock and key and the ones that are open are practically unusable.

Broken taps, leaking or dysfunctional flushes, dirty washbasins, no water, no lighting — just some of the issues that one can encounter while entering any of these toilets in suburban railway stations.

Incidentally, toilets meant for the disabled are also locked.

“Not having proper toilets is a big challenge, especially for women commuters,” said S. Bhagyalakshmi, a bank staff who boards the train from Tambaram to go to her office at Chennai Fort.

“I avoid drinking water an hour before I start for work. This helps me avoid using the toilet during the commute to work,” she added. Many women passengers said that it was difficult for them and they had to wait until they reached home to answer nature’s call.

Locked or dirty

In the western section, which has the second highest commuter population of nearly 4 lakh a day, many toilets are kept locked and not maintained properly. The travel time on this belt is 2-3 hours. Commuters here complained about the inadequate toilet facilities at the Arakkonam railway station. Naina Masilamani, president, Arakkonam Rail Passengers’ Association, said the railway station has a huge floating population (referring to commuters) coming from various places but the public convenience located near the ticket counter remains inadequate.

The commuters also complained that though the railways has constructed toilet structures in all stations, a number of these facilities are kept locked. A trip on the western section showed a number of toilet buildings kept locked, including Perambur Loco, Villivakkam and Korattur. In Pattaravakkam railway station, which is supposed to have a large number of industries from the Ambattur industrial estate, there is no public convenience in the railway station and so the public is pushed to answer nature's call in the open.

Serious setback

For a country that is keen on making places open defecation free, this is a serious setback. Unless facilities are provided for people to use, how will the State achieve any sort of open defecation target, urban activists question.

Similarly, Ambattur being an industrial township, the toilet facilities at the station are inadequate for the thousands of passengers, and worse still, they are in poor condition. As a consequence, a large number of passengers take to the small lane alongside to relieve themselves, again causing problems for women passengers taking that route to exit the station.

The public conveniences on the north section between Chennai Beach/MMC railway station to Sullurpeta are the worst maintained, a trip on the route showed.

In the stretch between Chennai Beach station and Tambaram, many toilets at Meenambakkam, St. Thomas Mount and Tirisulam were locked. At Tambaram, which is one of the most important stations, the flush was broken. The toilets meant for the disabled were locked. In Nungambakkam, the toilets were clean but there was no light when the reporters visited the place. Similar was the situation in the Velachery-Beach station stretch.

In most of the stations, the toilets are located at the end of the platform. “It’s very scary to walk up to the end of the platform, especially after 6 p.m.,” said Priyadarshini, a marketing agent.

“I once had an emergency and the officials at the station were kind enough to allow me to use the toilet that was meant for the staff,” she added.

An old woman who collects money at a pay-and-use facility at one of the stations said that patronage is poor. “I hardly get ₹50 per day. The men urinate on the tracks and other places. Only a few women come here. With the water crisis, it’s difficult to keep the place clean,” she added.

No takers

A senior official from Southern Railway said that the Chennai division has a total of 85 railway stations, including the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS), of which toilet facilities are available in 75. Construction of buildings for public conveniences is on in a few railway stations like Perambur Carriage Works. The official pointed out that toilets have had to be kept locked because no one had come forward to take up maintenance and also because of poor patronage.

The official said in another two months’ time the railways would come out with a plan wherein the toilets at various railway stations would be grouped in such a way that high revenue railway stations would be supporting maintenance of toilet facilities in railway stations where there is not much revenue.

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