It's a sad loony tale

With arrival of the rains, your time spent on Mumbai's roads, slowed by various infra projects, is bound to get longer, which means, if you feel the urge to go to the loo, when stuck in traffic, you might have to go through a lot of trouble

How often have you taken a long ride to work or back, and felt the sudden urge to empty your bladder but did not know where to go?

Or you found a public washroom but you could smell the stink a mile away and finally even if you made it into the loo, by the time you stepped out, your car had been towed away as there was no parking space outside.


Public toilet in Girgaum

Students of Journalism Mentor, a post graduate Mentorship based programme for entry level journalists, travelled by road, from Borivali to Churchgate and Thane to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST),to do a survey on the condition of public toilets at various places. The revelations were startling (see box).

Problems
Every day lakhs of vehicles ply on the eastern and western express highways. The shortage of toilets on roads makes travelling cumbersome for Mumbaikars.

Bala Subramaniam(71), who suffers fromu00a0 prostate gland problems said,u00a0 "Due to my condition, I have to go to the loo frequently, but the public restrooms are so unhygienic that I avoid using them.

I have no alternative but to go to cafes, restaurants and order something, if I want to use their restrooms." Others too face similar problems. Satish Wadhwa(65), from Juhu,u00a0 is a diabetic patient.

Wadhwa, who travels from Juhu to Crawford market every day, said, "The paid toilets too have no water. At some places, the toilets are maintained but the urinals are unhygienic and stink all the time."

Manisha Nandrajog, travels from Goregaon (E) to Nariman Point to work every day by road. She often feels the need to rush to a washroom in the evenings as she is stuck in traffic for three hours. "I end up going to a mall,as there is no parking facility near public loos.
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I also find most of the toilets dirty, dark and unsafe," said Nandrajog. Many avoid drinking water while travelling. Sakshi Malik, travels five days a week for work from Juhu to Fort for work. She said, "I avoid drinking water while travelling, so that I don't have to use the loo."

Health
Medical experts advice that every individual should hydrate and relieve themselves at regular intervals. Dr Shailesh Raina, Senior Consultant Urological & Renal Transplant Surgeon, Lilavati Hospital said, "As the bladder fills up, it triggers the brain. If the person does not urinate then the wall of the bladder stretches. Initially people experience pain when they dou00a0 not urinate for a long time.

However with repeated retention the bladder muscle becomes weak. When the bladder cannot hold the urine it sends the urine back to the kidney. Over a period of time, the urine stagnates and an individual develops kidney stones. Prolonged neglect of the condition can lead to kidney failure." The lack of facilities can clearly play havoc with a person's health.

Mohammad Ismail, Assistantu00a0 Professor KEM Hospital said, "Senior citizens with prostate problems and suffering from diabetes have a higher risk of contracting infection. If they are not able to urinate then the problem of retention of urine starts and they may need a catheter." Others believe that proper hygiene in public toilets is must. Said Raina, "Good hygiene and proper drainage system is a necessity. If the rest rooms are not sanitised, human beings using them can contract bacterial and fungal infections."

Unclean
"The public toilets in Mumbai are in a pathetic condition mostly because of lack of water. The first step is to ensure enough water supply. If water is made available in each of these toilets, keeping them clean would become easier," said Chandrashekhar Prabhu, an urban development expert.
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Sometimes, local residents who use these toilets regularly have to bring a bucket of water with them. Others have no option, but to leave it unclean in the absence of water.

LAW
"In Maharashtra we have a law that states that a person cannot defecate or urinate in the open and it is made an offence. The implementation of this law is the responsibility of theu00a0 State Government. It is also their responsibilityu00a0 to see that at least there are enough toilets," said Jalan, an advocate who was actively involved in the petition filed in the Bombay High Court concerning issues on sanitation.


A public toilet in Mulund

The president of Mumbai Taximen's Union, the chief body of taxi drivers in the city, A L Quadros complains about the infrastructure and the condition of the toilets. "It's easy to make such laws but where is the infrastructure and facilities?
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Many taxi drivers have complained that they are asked to pay a fine when they are caught urinating in open spaces." Jalan says that mobile toilets could be the solution to the problem. "To address lack of public toilets, building mobile toilets can be a step ahead. The municipal corporation should partner with NGOs like Sulabh International to build more toilet blocks," said Jalan.

Maintenance
Anil Kumar, Chairman of Sulabh International, Maharashtra, said that people should come forward to bring cases of negligence and maintenance issues. "People should lodge complaints. At the same time, people using these facilities should make an effort to keep these toilets clean."

Inconvenience
One of the concerns for private vehicle owners is parking space. Public toilets, on highways do not have allocated parking space. During peak hours it is difficult for drivers to park their vehicle and attend nature's call.
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"We are not given precise guidelines for parking by BMC when they provide us land for constructing other Public Sanitary Conveniences (PSC) complexes," said an official of Sulabh International (Maharashtra).

"The need for public toilets is ignored at planning level," says Sudhakar Kini, chief architect of Sulabh International.

He not only blamed the administration but the public too, for poor maintenance of these toilets. "The doors and mirrors are usually broken. There should beu00a0 public awareness programs to educate people on how to useu00a0 public toilets," said Kini.

Authorities
The authorities are busy passing the buck. When asked about the condition of public toilets at various places in the city,u00a0 Subodh Kumar, Municipal Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Brihanmumbai (MCGM) said, "Unless, I understand what toilets youu00a0 are talking about, I can't give you a reaction." Others clearly state that it was not their responsibility to take care of public toilets.

Said, Rahul Asthana, Commissioner, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, (MMRDA), "The MMRDA doesn't have to do anything with the toilets. It's the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) who is responsible."

Arif Naseem Khan, Guardian Minister for Mumbai suburbs said, "The BMC is responsible for the maintenance of the toilets. They have to look after the day-to-day maintenance. If anyone comes to us with a complaint, we will dicuss the issue withu00a0 the corporation. And till now no one has complained about public toilets." Sardar Tara Singh, MLA, Mulund suggests that "only pay-and -use toilets is the solution."

R .A Rajeev, Municipal commissioner Thane, who was previously the additional municipal commissioner BMC and had spearheaded the Clean-Up Mumbai campaign said, "We managed to build a number of public toilets in Mumbai.

But due to innumerable permissions required from different authorities, we faced difficulties. For example, the toilets built at CST were initially opposed by the Heritage committee. Today 20,000 people use it daily."

Joint effort is the need of the hour. Said Suresh Shetty, Public Health Minister for Maharashtra state said "The public toilets in the city come under the supervision of the BMC and the ones on highway under Public Welfare department.u00a0

Both the agencies should make a joint effort to solve this problem; there should be a facility every 10 km. It is a serious problem affecting the city."

Helpless
Most travellers have no choice but to hold their bladder.
The condition of most of the washrooms is disgusting and unhygienic.
The worst toilets were located at Kopri Bridge (Eastern Express Highway) and Vile Parle (Western Express Highway), which come under TMC (Thane Municipal Corporation) and BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) respectively.u00a0
Some public toilets had no water facilities.
Local residents who use these toilets bring water buckets from their homes.
Some public toilets had bathing facilities. Local residents and private taxi drivers use this facility.
Most toilets or washrooms on roads don't have parking facility.u00a0
Such toilets were used by taxi drivers or auto rickshaw drivers.u00a0
Women don't use public toilets due to unhygienic conditions.
Attendants missing in some public toilets.
The charges across public toilets are not same. Different amounts are charged at different places.
Cleaner and better maintained public toilets as one moves towards South Mumbai.



Pictures, text and research by Ashwin Dsilva, Farheen Siddiqui, Kruti Shah, Natasha Sehgal, Shikha Saksena, Shweta Keshri, Tanushree Chakraborty.