Mid-Day Test Drive: How good are toilets along Eastern Express Highway?

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC has quite a long way to go before it accomplishes its mission of constructing toilets for citizens along the Eastern Express Highway When midday recently conducted an audit of the public lavatories along the stretch it came to light that two prefabricated toilets at the Airoli junctionmdashin the northern direction and another towards Sionmdashhad not been opened despite being set up more than a year agoA toilet at Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar which residents say the BMC has neglectedThe toilets lack sewage systems and water connections and civic officials claimed they are yet to receive nods for the same from the forest department as the lavatories have been set up on the latterrsquos landRs 85 lakhAmount spent on four toilets at Airoli junction Bhandup and KanjurmargThreeNo of toilets found to be clean near the Railway Police Colony in Ghatkopar EastOne of the closed toilets at Airoli junction PicsAnurag AhirelsquoLand belongs to forest departmentrsquoSameer Wagala who visits the spot regularly to catch a bus said people had to go to the rear of the closed toilet on the Thanebound road to relieve themselvesA taxi driver Gagan Yadav said ldquoThe BMC installed these toilets a year ago but for some reason they are not open yet This is a busy junction Intercity private buses as well as cabs and autos halt here There is also a BEST bus stop nearby People are forced to urinate openlyrdquoThe filthy public washroom near the Kanjurmarg dumping groundJaisingh Thakur another cab driver told midday that the closed toilets were a huge hindrance for women commuters as they didnrsquot have the option of urinating publiclyRohini Kadam a member of the Right to Pee campaign which advocate safe and hygienic toilets for women said ldquoWomen are disproportionately affected by the lack of public toilets All authorities need to consider this situationrdquoThe spotless toilet near the Bhandup pumping stationBhaskar Kshirsagar assistant municipal commissioner of the S ward said ldquoThe land belongs to the forest department We are in continuous talks with them about allowing us to open the toilets The lavatory at the Bhandup pumping station however is openrdquoDombivli resident Deepak Bhandar who uses the toilet at Bhandup regularly while travelling said ldquoIt is very cleanrdquoAccording to a caretaker staff clean the toilet three to four times a day ldquoThere is a 24hour water supply and all toilets for men women and the differently abled are operationalrdquo he addedThere was another toilet on the highway near the Kanjurmarg dumping ground but it wore an empty look and was less clean compared to the Bhandup one The BMC spent around Rs 85 lakh on the four aforementioned toiletsSanitation lapseThe toilet at Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar Mulund which residents say the BMC has neglectedA urinal at Mhada Colony junction Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar Mulund which is allegedly being overlooked by civic staffers is making life unbearable for localsPadma Kamble a resident said ldquoThis toilet is not cleaned regularly by BMC staff Due to this there is a terrible stench The toilet next to it is as filthy making it difficult for us to live hererdquoOthers specimensThe toilet near the Chheda Nagar junctionThree toilets at Ghatkopar East near the Railway Police Colony on the northbound lane towards Thane and another near the Ghatkopar pumping station towards Sion were clean A lavatory at the Vikhroli Station Road junction was clean Vikram Vishwakarma a local expressed satisfaction with the hygiene of the facility appreciating the fact that citizens werenrsquot charged to use itA civic official said that BMCappointed labourers built these toilets Each has 10 seats five each for men and women as well as five urinal cubes and a toilet for handicapped Meanwhile a toilet near Chheda Nagar junction appeared to be severely dilapidatedAbject lack of toiletsGarbage outside the facilityWhen this reporter travelled from Ghatkopar to Sion no public toilet could be seen When heading towards Thane from Sion there were three lavatories including one at Sanjay Gandhi Nagar which was clean However solid waste had piled up on the road outside it One of the other toilets opposite Wadala junction did not have a urinal The last one opposite Suman Nagar was uncharacteristically hygienic These toilets were payanduse facilities where one could urinate for free BMC officials claimed these toilets did not belong to the civic bodyThe relatively clean toilet at Sanjay Gandhi NagarThere were no urinal facilities between Suman Nagar and Ghatkopar on the northbound stretch of the highway While there were public toilets at Kurla signal and Kamaraj Nagar junction the former didnrsquot have a proper urinal facility and the latter was in a sorry state OfficialSpeakKiran Dighavkar Deputy Municipal CommissionerlsquoThere is a lack of space to build proper toilets between Ghatkopar and Vikhroli and land along the highway belongs to several agencies We will look into the issue of unclean toilets Our officials are continuously trying to open toilets along the highwayrsquo