Stench, broken seats, taps greet public toilet users in Gurugram

Most of the public toilets in Gurugram city are in a deplorable condition with unhygienic conditions. At some public toilets, the doors are broken, while in others, roofs are leaking. In several others, the washbasins are broken, taps are non-functional and cracks have developed in toilet seats with foul smell emanating 24x7.

The worst condition is of the toilets built around the major markets and settlements. At many places, the toilets remain locked.

The condition of the public toilet located on the sector road outside Sector-46 market is deplorable with broken toilet flush, taps and seats. The wooden doors are rotten and broken from the bottom. Vikas Mehta, a member of the market association, said someone had illegally occupied the public toilet. The occupant collects user charges ranging from Rs 5 to Rs 10. Living on the toilet premises, he is neither an MCG employee nor employed by any private company. When this correspondent contacted him, he could not give any satisfactory reply.

At a public toilet in Sohna chowk, junk is piled up inside the public toilet. At Badshahpur, the toilet seats are broken with junk all around and taps not functioning properly. The condition of the public toilet in the Sadar Bazaar is no good either. The area outside the toilet has been occupied by hawkers and roadside shopkeepers. Shoes and other items are hung on the exterior wall of the toilet due to which the toilet is not even visible. It is locked for most of the time causing inconvenience to women users.

In a mess

In public toilets in Sohna chowk, Sector 46 market, Sadar Bazaar, Nehru Park which the correspondent visited, it was a usual site to see broken toilet flushes, doors, non-functional taps, piled-up junk

In one of the public toilets, a person has illegally occupied it collecting user charges ranging from Rs 5 to Rs 10. Living on the toilet premises, he is neither an MCG employee nor employed by any private company

The public toilet of the municipal corporation built outside Nehru Park on Gurdwara Road also remains locked most of the time. Though, it has special facilities for women and the disabled but the people are not able to use it. It is difficult to stand in front of the toilet due to dirt and foul smell. Similar is the condition of most of the public toilets in other areas of the city.

It may be mentioned there are 133 public toilets in Gurugram city and the MCG spends more than Rs 5 crore annually for the maintenance and upkeep of public toilets but they are still in a deplorable condition.

MCG Commissioner Ashok Kumar Garg stated that the MC had started a 5-week long 'Swachh Shauchalay Abhiyan', which will continue till December 25. Under this campaign, the standards of cleanliness, maintenance and beautification of all public and community toilets in the corporation area will be improved.

He maintained the MC was committed to providing clean toilet facilities at public places to residents. During the 5-week campaign, the MC would change the face of all the toilets, he assured.

The MCG has also asked the private companies who have been assigned the task to maintain toilets to keep them clean.