Maharashtra: Five years on, Pune’s Rs 2 cr e-toilets lie idle

A citizensrsquo group in Pune has urged the Pune Municipal Corporation PMC to convert all nonfunctional etoilets into simple but clean public toilets and open them for public useVivek Velankar president of Sajag Nagrik Manch Pune sent a letter to the PMC regarding this issue In his letter he pointed out that most of the 11 advanced etoilets built in the city five years ago at a cost of Rs 2 crore are now nonfunctionalHe mentioned that in 2018 a provision of Rs 2 crore was made from the member of parliament MP fund of then Pune MP Anil Shirole to construct advanced etoilets at 11 locations across the cityThe PMC gave the contract to Eram Scientific Solutions for setting up and maintaining these etoilets for one year Since the technology was patented and developed only by this company the contract was awarded without any tender processVelankar wrote ldquoThe company maintained the toilets till the end of 2019 but after that it neither transferred the technology to the civic body nor took interest in continuing the maintenance contract As a result all the etoilets became nonfunctionalrdquoThese etoilets were installed at the following locationsmdashin front of Rupali Hotel Remoshi Vasti Hirwai Garden Sambhaji Garden Model Colony Om Supermarket Tingre Garden Viman Nagar Nilayam Bridge STP on Sinhagad Road Near Wadia College Tukai Tekdi and LMD Garden BavdhanVelankar also said that later the PMC floated a new tender and gave a trial contract to Aditya Enterprises in 2023 to repair five of these toilets at a cost of Rs128400 each and maintain them for Rs 7000 per month Around Rs 5 lakh has already been spent but as of now only three out of the 11 toilets are workingThe Sajag Nagrik Manch raised several questions in the lettergtgt ldquoWhen the city faces a massive shortage of simple yet clean public toilets who came up with the idea of spending such a huge amount on advanced etoilets instead of building more basic onesrdquogtgt ldquoWhy was the tender process skipped in favour of a patented technologyrdquogtgt ldquoDoes the corporation think therersquos no loss because the money came from the MPrsquos fundrdquogtgt ldquoWhen will the authorities understand that MP funds are also public money coming from taxpayersrdquoThe group requested the PMC to convert all the nonworking etoilets into clean simple public toilets and make them available for people to useWhen contacted PMC Deputy Commissioner Sandip Kadam told midday ldquoWe had received the letter from Sajag Nagrik Manch It is true that these etoilets were facing a lot of issues like thefts cleanliness etc and they were not working properly We have decided to shift them to near ward offices or public places where they can be monitored properlyrdquoEtoilets or electronic toilets are smart automated public toilets that are designed to offer a cleaner and more userfriendly experience compared to traditional toilets Some models have automatic doors selfcleaning mechanisms after every use and sensorbased flushing systems that also clean the floor and toilet bowl Some units offer coinoperated or appbased access However despite these hightech features many etoilets have suffered from poor maintenance after installation leading to frequent breakdowns and usability issuesatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params