Mumbai: 'Pay as you please' for free-urinals in suburban stations
What's the story
The free urinals at the suburban railway stations in Mumbai will now have a drop-box at the exit where you can 'pay as you please' for the service.
The Western Railway (WR) has introduced this new concept in order to encourage the contractors to maintain the toilets for monetary benefit.
The plan was implemented in ten stations almost a week ago.
Twitter Post
Western Railway shares its toilet thoughts
#WR has introduced a new system at 10 busy suburban stations of paying as you please at station toilets. The system is expected to help contractors keep the toilets clean which see heavy foorfalls during the day #toiletthoughts pic.twitter.com/vr4iD1hxnn
— Western Railway (@WesternRly) April 3, 2018
Why this step
'Contractors will now have incentive to clean free urinals'
"The contractors tend to maintain only pay-and-use toilets. Every station has free urinals facility that remain dirty; and so, if people pay by their own will, then at least the contractors will have an incentive to clean it too," said a WR official.
The stations where the concept has been introduced include Andheri, Jogeshwari, Goregaon, Malad, Mira Road, Bhayandar, Kandivli and Borivli among others.
WR's plans
Other stations on WR line to have this facility too
Apart from these stations, WR is planning to implement this plan in other stations as well.
"We've identified one toilet block at every station where urinal is free. People can pay if they find the toilets well maintained," said Mukul Jain, DRM (Mumbai), WR.
Though WR charges Re. 1 for urinals and Rs. 2 for washroom facility, Central Railway has stopped charging commuters altogether.
Information
Railway's 2017 'Swachhta' report: CR, WR in top five
In the Railway Ministry's 2017 'Swachhta report' of railway stations, Central Railway had come third scoring 689 points and WR grabbed the fifth spot with 684 points. However, none of the stations in Mumbai, whether under CR or WR, came in top ten.