Toilet deaths: Time to revamp Mumbai's Community Based Organisations

In recent months, Mumbai has seen at least two tragic incidents resulting in deaths in public toilets. The first occurred on December 18, 2023 in Bamanwada

Mumbai: In recent months, Mumbai has seen at least two tragic incidents resulting in deaths in public toilets. The first occurred on December 18, 2023 in Bamanwada, Vile Parle, when a body was found floating in the water tank of the public toilet.

Bamanwada public toilet where a body was found in December

Three months later, on March 21, three members of a family – a father and his two young sons – collapsed, one after another, breathing in toxic gases from sludge while cleaning an underground tank of a toilet in Ambujwadi, Malad. All three died.

What these two seemingly disparate cases have in common is that both took place in toilets constructed under the slum sanitation programme (SSP), given over to community-based organisations (CBO) to run.

Originally a World Bank-funded project from 1996 to 2000 and then adopted by the BMC, toilets constructed under the scheme are handed over to a CBO, formed from among the slum settlement that the toilet is supposed to serve. CBOs take care of operations and maintenance – cleaning the premises, paying electricity and water bills at commercial rates, caretakers – in exchange for charging user families between ₹ 100 - ₹150 for a monthly pass.

A good policy in theory, but the two fatal incidents are emblematic of the many fault lines in the functioning. From the locations chosen to construct the toilets, to the formation and training of the CBOs, the system has cracks.

Where none needed

In Bamanwada, on the face of it, the incident did not have much to do with the toilet in question. Locals said the man was a drunk, and he fell in while trying to fetch water.

Questions arise, however, as the body was found three days after his wife lodged a missing person’s complaint a few days after he actually went missing. Even then, it was only when the residents nearby raised a hue and cry about the stink that the decomposing body was fished out.

Where was the CBO in charge of the toilet? And where were the people using it? The answer: they didn’t exist.

“Most people in the area have toilets in their homes,” said Jaffer Shah, a resident and social worker. “Few people agreed to pay for it. A few days after the toilet opened, parts were stolen from it. It was always dirty, and there was no electricity connection for a few months. The top floor had become a den for drug users.”

At first, officials from the BMC’s K East ward claimed that the area’s residents refused to shell out any money for the toilet, and hence, without funds, the CBO stopped functioning. Another official, however, said a CBO was never formed in the first place, leaving it uncared for from the very beginning.

This is not an unusual case.

Many toilets, intended for CBOs, fall prey to disuse (and hence, misuse) due to the lack of need for public toilet seats in the area. Sixty four of the 188 toilet blocks lay shut in the city’s poorest ward, M East, found a 2022 survey done by the NGO CORO. By now, said Rohini Kadam, Right To Pee activist at CORO, the number would have swelled.

“Toilets are constructed in locations where there is little to no need for them, while areas with dire need – many of which are Muslim and dalit localities - are neglected,” explained Kadam.

Satish Bhosale, secretary of Swachchta Samvardhan Sanstha Mahasangh, a federation of around 450 CBOs, echoed this point, adding that 17 toilets in Shaivaji Nagar, Govandi, have been sitting unopened ever since their construction for years. “The CBO tries to salvage the situation, by delaying bills for months. But it’s simply not sustainable.”

This is also seen in Ambujwadi, the site of the second deadly incident. The area has 23 public toilets; five are abandoned, three yet to be inaugurated, say findings by the NGO YUVA in 2022-23.

According to an official from the BMC’s slum sanitation programme department, before a toilet is constructed in an area, an NGO carries out a survey to calculate its need. This process, interjected Kadam, is riddled with corruption, with blocks built in areas and sizes to suit contractors, rather than users. Incidentally, the toilet in Bamanwada had recently been reconstructed, with an added floor.

Further, NFHS-5 survey showed an increase of 18 percentage points in homes with toilets inside from 2015-16 to 2020 in Mumbai city. This has increased even more after the Covid-19 pandemic, forewarns Kadam.

Final responsibility

In the second incident, the deceased family cleaning the toilet tanks were themselves part of the CBO given charge of the toilet. Ramlagan Kevat, the father, was the secretary.

The BMC’s investigation, released on Wednesday, found that the family and the CBO at large had converted the underground water tank into a septic tank by breaking a portion of the partition in between – which is why sludge was found in it. This was done, presumably, to avoid its frequent cleaning. The BMC found the CBO culpable since the change was unauthorized, and the CBO denied it.

In any case, how is a CBO supposed to know this?

“An NGO takes care of everything from the survey to the CBO formation, for which they are paid ₹1,30,000. But they do a terrible job,” said Bhosale. Kadam added that the BMC’s respective ward is supposed to train the CBO, handhold them through the operation and maintenance for the toilet, after formation, but that seldom happens. The official from the SSP department said they are involved only till the CBO is handed over the toilet, after which it is given up to the respective ward.

Seema Redkar, former deputy OSD of the SSP from its inception to 2006, explained that the CBOs need handholding through the process of handling a toilet for at least five to eight years. “The organizations need to be trained how to run a toilet and its expenses. The process is done on paper, but not followed,” she said.

All the experts added that CBOs need some modicum of financial assistance to run the toilets such as providing water and electricity at residential instead of commercial rates or adding a laundry service and so on.

The BMC’s investigative report on the Ambujwadi incident instructed strict action be taken against the CBO, but also stressed training of CBOs. “We have recommended the deputy municipal commission in charge of solid waste management (SWM), Sanjog Kabare, take a meeting with all the CBOs in the city and there be guidelines for CBOs,” said Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner of the P North ward. The DMC (SWM) did not respond to questions.