Cleanliness and hygiene not maintained
Photo Credits: KTC toilets
Stinking affairs at Panaji
KTC 'pay and pee' toilets
No waiting rooms, thousands use the facility
BHARATI PAWASKAR
PANAJI
It’s a stinking story of public toilets run on ‘pay and pee’ basis at the Kadamba Transport Corporation’s interstate bus stand in the State capital Panaji where in a day approximately 1,500 buses (including KTC owned and private) ply.
The Panaji KTC bus stand, which is the main entry point for interstate buses, every day witnesses footfalls of thousands of local commuters as well as tourists, some of whom halt, waiting for their connecting buses.
But unlike other states, KTC Panaji bus stand lacks of an appropriate waiting room facility. In the absence of a waiting room with attached washroom facility where they can wait with their luggage, the travellers are forced to use the public pay toilet facility offered by the KTC where one has to pay to use it.
"The toilets for ladies are in a dilapidated state, with no door latches, no cleanliness and no maintenance of hygiene. While one is always locked, the other two have no doors and are filled with debris. There is always water shortage and filth scattered all over the floor. Also there is no female attendant and the windows are open, without doors and grills," complains an office going woman who often uses the facility.
The 135 odd shopkeepers in the KTC complex also use the same pay toilet facility and though it is not compulsory to pay a monthly rent, they pay Rs 50-100 willingly for maintenance. “But it is sad that the maintenance is not taken care of,” complains a shopkeeper selling bakery items. Another shopkeeper who has set his shop since 1984 recalls that the toilets were renovated some 10-12 years ago.
Ashok Shetty, vice-president of Kadamba Shopkeepers Association, admits that the toilets are over used and that he hardly uses them. “In the absence of water, tankers are called, thus costing Rs 1000-1500 per trip, so some of the shopkeepers willingly shell out the amount,” he adds.
Since public tenders are called each year for the maintenance of the toilets and that the contractors change, it is hardly to keep a track of them. “We are transferred from toilet to toilet on all Kadamba bus stands,” says the toilet attendant Chandan who accepts the charges, which varies from Rs 2-10 from the users.
