Govt stays contract for 12cr aspirational toilets, orders probe
Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar ruled that the state govt must direct municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani to conduct a probe against additional municipal commissioner (City) Ashwini Joshi, who is pushing the aspirational toilet project and take action against her if any irregularities are found in the probe.
The BMC has claimed that three tenders were floated for 13 toilets worth around Rs 21 crore. Each toilet costs around Rs 1.65 crore.
However, 3 aspirational toilets were on open spaces so they were dropped. One toilet was in Dharavi which was dropped since the area is now part of the Dharavi Redevelopment Project. For the toilet near Sion Fort, BMC couldn't get permission from the Archaeological Survey of India and it was dropped.
The toilet at VB Worlikar Marg in Worli was cancelled after orders from municipal commissioner. At the moment, work is going on for seven toilets only that cost around Rs 12 crore.
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The issue was raised in the Legislative Assembly by BJP MLA Ameet Satam through a calling attention motion. Satam said that the BMC has approved tenders for 14 'Aspirational Toilets' worth Rs 20 crore, and work has already commenced at five locations in A Ward.
"Despite the BMC's own Pedestrian First policy and the fact that these areas are surrounded by heritage buildings and precincts, these structures are not just toilets but effectively amount to BMC-sponsored encroachments on public footpaths. The local elected representative had opposed the construction of these toilets on footpaths. Was this opposition taken into account by the BMC?"asked Satam.
Aspirational toilets have a European-style design with smart features like automatic flushing, sensor-based lighting and ventilation, and even voice assistance.
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