Chennai Corporation has no plans to remove e-toilets, only improve their maintenance

The city is aiming for an open defecation-free rating under the Swachh Bharat Mission and the presence of e-toilets and public toilets are a part of this

The Chennai Corporation has no plans to cease functioning of e-toilets across the city and is hoping to revive their use with proper maintenance and management, according to officials. According to a senior corporation official, the civic body refused to consider proposals that involved removing the e-toilets. In conversations, the Corporation asked the contractors to resume maintenance of the e-toilets and even offered to handle any initial capital charges to fix electronic equipment and in the last two months, 37 toilets were repaired. 

“E-toilets will be revived because we must make use of existing infrastructure. The contractor has agreed to repair forty to fifty toilets every month and revive all toilets in the next three months”, said the official. 

The subject of e-toilets was once again brought up in last week’s Council meeting and Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi gave an overview of the current situation. “Not every company can carry out repair works for the e-toilets”, he said. K Dhanasekharan, councillor of ward 137, said that in a personal survey of e-toilets in zones 8 and 10, he found that only two were working and the two in his ward were not in a condition that rendered them usable. 

An e-toilet on Venkatnarayana Road has been unfit for use for quite some time now. A plastic chair is lodged into its entrance, plastic crates are placed up against it and a tricycle filled with empty water cans is parked right next to it, not to mention the accumulation of random items over time and it emanates a strong stench. 

In the past year, the Chennai Corporation has put up 380 new toilets and urinals that are non-electronic. The city is aiming for an open defecation-free rating under the Swachh Bharat Mission and the presence of e-toilets and public toilets are a part of this.