Public toilets at Thane railway station vandalised, repairs underway

Public toilet facilities at Thane railway station were vandalised by unidentified miscreants on Friday night causing major inconvenience to passengersAccording to Central Railway officials multiple toilet blocks across various platforms were found broken and choked Restoration work is currently in progress to bring the facilities back into operation as soon as possibleThe damaged toilets are located atPlatform No 1 KalyanendPlatform No 2 MiddlePlatform No 2 KalyanendPlatform No 10AldquoThe damaged toilets are being repaired or replaced and we aim to restore the amenities for public use at the earliestrdquo a Central Railway spokesperson saidThe railway administration has appealed to passengers and members of the public to refrain from such destructive acts and to help protect public infrastructure Anyone with information about those responsible is urged to contact the Railway Protection Force RPF or report to the station authorities at ThanePraja Report reveals Mumbairsquos slum toilets lack water women face sanitation crisisMumbairsquos slums are facing a severe shortage of community toilets reveals the latest Praja Foundation report which exposes the cityrsquos dismal state of sanitation The report also highlights that nearly 395 million litres of drinking water is wasted daily due to pipeline leakageldquoMumbairsquos water supply system suffers from serious disparities between available resources and their distribution The city receives 4370 million litres per day MLD of water but due to pipeline losses only 3975 MLD reaches usersrdquo said Milind Mhaske CEO Praja Foundation The city requires 4664 MLD daily resulting in a shortfall of 689 MLD or 15 per centThe Praja report released Tuesday at the Mumbai Press Club paints an equally grim picture of the cityrsquos community toilets As of 2024 only one in four public toilet seats is available for women In 2023 one community toilet seat served 86 men and 81 women far above the Swachh Bharat Mission SBM norm of 35 men and 25 women per seatOf the 6800 community toilet blocks in Mumbai in 2023 69 per cent 4518 lacked water connections and 60 per cent 4010 had no electricity The data was obtained by Praja Foundation via Right to Information RTIAccording to SBM norms one toilet block should cater to 100ndash400 men and 100ndash200 women but in Mumbai one seat serves 752 men and 1820 women revealing a staggering gap in infrastructureAdditionally response time to civic complaints has worsened ldquoIn 2024 Mumbaikars filed over 115 lakh citizen complaints a 70 per cent increase from 67773 in 2015rdquo said Shreyas Corgi manager ndash research and analysis at Praja FoundationatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params