Collectorate toilets raising a stink!
At a time when there is great thrust on Swachh Bharat Mission, which aims to catalyse a nationwide commitment towards hygiene and sanitation, washrooms in many government offices here present an extremely dirty picture. In a series beginning today, HT carries out a status check to assess the condition of public toilets in government establishments
LUCKNOW: The district magistrate’s office here houses multiple departments and is visited by at least 10,000 people a day.
But attending nature’s call here is nothing short of torture for both staff and visitors as the toilets are in a shambles, with paan-stained walls and sink. The filth strewn all around is enough to make one change one’s mind and try to withhold bowel or bladder movement.
Needless to state, the women staff is in an even tighter spot. “Since nature’s call cannot be avoided, the officials are left with no option than to use the dirty toilets,” said Narendra Yadav, convener, Uttar Pradesh Collectorate Karamchari Sangh.
Yadav said they had approached the top officials several times to ensure regular cleanliness in the public toilets that were also used by the staff, but all they got was assurance.
Presently, the massive Colectorate that has offices of more than 15 departments, has only one public toilet on the rear side of the office—a place far from accessible to the visitors. The toilet is in an utterly deplorable state and seems to have been lying uncleaned since ages.
Broken urinals, walls and toilet fittings covered with ‘pan masala’ stains, cobwebs and overflowing drains make it completely unfit for use.
“The condition of the toilet on the ground floor shows that it is lying uncleaned for the past several years. Officials here, who are busy constructing toilets in villages under ODF programme, seem least bothered about ensuring cleanliness of this toilet,” said Sudha Mishra, a visitor at the Collectorate.
Other than this, there are two more
› The condition of the toilet on the ground floor shows that it is lying uncleaned for the past several years. Officials here seem least bothered about ensuring cleanliness of this toilet. SUDHA MISHRA, a visitor
toilets on the ground floor—one for women officers and another for womenemployees. Theyarecomparatively cleaner but they are not meant for visitors.
The DM’s office has another toilet on the second floor. Though the condition of this toilet is slightly better than the one on the ground floor, it is also far from clean. Officials said toilet cleaning took place once or twice in a week as there were no fourth class employees.
District magistrate Lucknow Kaushal Raj Sharma said there were no fourth class employees left at the Collectorate as most of them had retired over the years. “In such a situation, we either have to depend on the private employees or the Nagar Nigam. Hence cleaning can be done only once or twice a week,” said the DM. Sharma said he recently got two women’s toilets constructed —one for staff and another for officers-- from critical gap fund. “I am also going constructed a community toilet through critical gap fund to facilitate the visitors at the Collectorate,” he added.
Other than the DM’s Office, the neighbouring Registry Office that is frequently visited by people sports an equally grey picture. The condition of the toilets is equally bad and mal odour makes people give them a wide berth.