CHENNAI: Coming across a closed public toilet has become a common site across the railway stations in the city. One could see the public toilet in Perambur Loco Works railway station remaining shut for a long time causing inconvenience for the commuters, especially women passengers and travellers from long distances.
Explaining the hardships, P Saravanan, a regular passenger said, “The toilet has remained closed for a very long time. The railways could at least assign an elderly person to collect money in front of the public toilet as it is a pay-and-use toilet. The railways should take measures to keep it open to the public regularly as there are high chances of the building getting destroyed if it is left unused and closed.”
Commenting on the same, Revathy K, another commuter said, “If the toilets are not open it would be difficult for long-distance travellers and women passengers who have no other choice.”
In many stations across the city, the toilets for the differently abled also remain closed. In some other cases, it has been reported that the employees on a contract basis charge higher than the amount displayed in the station, or the railways has not put up boards displaying the actual amount to be charged in some stations.
When the railway officials are contacted on the same, the common excuse they provide in many instances is that the public toilets remain shut because the tender period is closed. Elaborating on the same, a railway employee at the station said, “The keys for the public toilets are with us and we give them to the commuters whenever they want to use the toilet.” The employee also mentioned that the toilets have remained closed because the tender has ended.