₹1,000 cr down the drain, as Chennai's public toilets still stink

Time of India

7 days ago

City corporation's Singara Chennai dream has been drowned by stench. Even after more than ₹1,000 crore was spent to clean public toilets, they remain stinky, dirty and in a ramshackle state.
Now, Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) plans to pump in another 1,000 crore for the same failed cause.
In order to clean, maintain and build 10,000 public toilet seats in the city across 1,260 locations, the GCC spent 620 crore under the
Swachh Bharat Mission
(SBM) in the last five years, and another 430 crore was spent to privatise toilets in two zones -- Royapuram, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar — and partly Marina in a nine-year privatisation deal. This apart, they spent around 50 crore to build and maintain mobile toilets, e-toilets, and Singara Chennai's 'Oppanai Araai's toilets.
A field visit by TOI, however, showed the money has gone down the drain.
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In Anna Nagar, a 10-storey SBM toilet that once existed, and still shows on Google Maps, is now missing. Another toilet in Tower Park has no door on the women's side, just a pink curtain, and it reeks of urine. At the SBM toilet outside Rajarathinam Stadium in Egmore, the floor is filthy and no staff was present to monitor the seats. None of these facilities had CCTV, although it is required under GCC's tender rules.
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In the Adyar zone alone, the GCC spent about 1.6 crore within six months from Feb to maintain toilets. Yet, the toilets remained shut and the commode was plastered with cement. In a nearby location, on Indira Nagar fourth main road, the e-toilet marked on Google Maps was removed five months ago.
At Apparao Gardens in Aminjikarai, a two-decade-old public toilet stands crumbling with its floor lined with water-filled holes, and a stray dog resting on a toilet seat.
One of the walls is cracked and looks ready to fall. "This toilet has been such as this for as long as I can remember," says Padmini, a resident living nearby. "Using a restroom should be a peaceful experiance, not something where you worry if something will fall on your head.
"
The GCC has not enforced any of its key-performance indicators such as cleanliness, CCTVs, water supply, presence of staff, ramps, and proper sewage outfalls.
Not has it blacklisted any of its contractors, including Dr RSB Infra who handles privatisation in Royapuram and Thiru Vi Ka Nagar zones.
In these zones, the GCC inflated maintenance costs per seat from 3.18 per seat to 364, which was 300-times the cost of toilets maintained in popular private firms. DMK councillors too have flagged GCC's poor maintenance of toilets. In the council, accounts committee chairman K Dhanasekaran admitted that the corporation lacked both adequate funds and technical expertise to design and maintain toilets.
While existing toilets are poor, there are no toilets at all in popular public spaces like Guindy and Koyambedu. The mobile toilet buses launched by mayor R Priya last year are nowhere to be seen. Ignoring the glaring scams, lack of enforcement on the six-month shorter contracts and nine-year contracts as well, officials continue to bank on nine-year contracts as a permanent solution. "The nine-year privatisation is one of the first corporation-funded toilet privatisation models in India," said PV Srinivasan, superintending engineer of special projects.
Yet, GCC is sitting on this 1,243 crore privatisation deal for 13 zones for nearly two years now. On the delay, mayor Priya said that bringing in high-quality private toilets is a tedious approval process. "The special projects team first identifies the sites. These are then inspected for structural stability, and finally sent to the council for approval. This takes time," she said.
She said the corporation is speeding up approvals and implementation. "Work is underway for the rest of the 13 zones and when these toilets are operational, they will be of a good quality," she said. Though tenders have been awarded to three contractors, work is yet to start anywhere and the six-month contracts continue to be in place. Officials promise works will be finished by Dec 2026.