Fancy toilets raise a stink, undoing to cost Rs 15 crore

Every fancy coffee-cum-toilet complex cost the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Rs 2 crore each. However, it’s likely that its undoing now, will cost nearly eight times more. And who should bear the brunt of it, but the taxpayer. Neelam Pandey reports.

Every fancy coffee-cum-toilet complex cost the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Rs 2 crore each. However, it’s likely that its undoing now, will cost nearly eight times more. And who should bear the brunt of it, but the taxpayer.

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Eight such structures had come up in the city before the Commonwealth Games 2010 in Defence Colony, Chittaranjan Park, East of Kailash, Greater Kailash I (N&M), Model Town, South Extension and Kailash Colony. None of them, however, is functional yet.

The MCD had come up with an ambitious plan of constructing aesthetically pleasing toilet complexes that would have coffee shops or fast-food joints on the first floor. It was also decided that the private company which would be awarded the project tender would have to maintain these complexes for 30 years.

But the resident welfare associations (RWAs) strongly opposed this project as many of these complexes had come up at sites earmarked for parking projects. The RWAs said it was a way of grabbing prime land. “These structures should be demolished. Buying them out is not an option,” said Rajiv Kakaria, member of Greater Kailash I RWA.

Meanwhile, the MCD is yet to figure out how to put these structures to good use. “A decision on their usage will be taken soon,” said Yogender Chandolia, chairman MCD standing committee.