Activists criticize BMP for pay-and-use toilets

Activists criticize BMP for pay-and-use toilets
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Even as protest against the privatisation of water is hitting the headlines, Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) is facing criticism for continuing with ‘pay and use’ system in all ‘Nirmala’ toilets in the city.

There are 108 Nirmala toilets in the city, which were initiated by the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) three years ago. Out of these 108 toilets as many as 30 are maintained by ‘Infosys Foundation and the rest are being maintained by another private agency.

Most of the Bangaloreans have no objection for paying 50 paise or Rs 1 for a convenient and hygienic use. But, many social organisations have criticised the ‘pay and use’ system.

Arul Selva of Jan Sahyog said, “The issue is not on how much money one has to pay, but why should one pay to use these public toilets. It is shameful on the part of the administration to go ahead with the pay and use system.

“It sounds like, if you don’t have 0.50 paise you cannot use a public toilet,” he said. He further criticised the Government for not utilising Central Urban Development’s ‘Temporary Shelter Scheme for Street Dwellers’.

He said that even if a small share of this unused fund were diverted, public toilets could be kept free of cost.

“Thousands of slum dwellers and street dwellers use ‘Nirmala’ public toilet. BMP must identify such toilets and should waive off these charges,” he said.

Many other activists who are working for slum dwellers also criticised BMP for charging.

The BMP is also criticised for not keeping a tab on maintenance of Nirmala complexes. In many of the Nirmala complexes at the City outskirts private agents were found selling water meant for cleaning purposes.

Despite all these demands BMP has not changed the ‘pay and use’ system. In fact, BMP has already adopted a resolution in which 108 toilets have been divided into 6 packages, each containing 18 pay and use facilities.

The fresh tenders to maintain these facilities are in place. As per the tenders, the agency that maintains the public toilets has to earn the revenue through advertisements. In addition, each package has the franchise fee, which has to be remitted to BMP.

BMP too has reasons to defend this stand. A BMP health official told this website’s newspaper that efforts were made to help slum dwellers to use toilets for free of cost.

“The residents were given community cards, but after sometime residents themselves did not show interest in renewing it”, officer said.

The officer also maintained that any free service was always bound to be wasted, and would result in poor management.