Loo a scary word for Mumbai women

About 90 lakh female passengers board and alight at the Dadar station everyday but there are only four ladies toilets, reports Sumitra Deb Roy.

About 90 lakh female passengers board and alight at the Dadar station everyday but there are only four ladies toilets! The lady's section in almost all the 1300 Pay and Use toilets in Mumbai is in a pitiable condition especially in terms of hygiene. "The government is still to take a note that the women are going out in large numbers to work outside their homes," said Paromita Vohra, documentary filmmaker and screenwriter. Having directed a film on the condition of ladies toilets in India, Vohra added that though the public administration is trying to think global, it is actually extremely outdated.

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For working women in the city commuting is little short of a nightmare to drink fluids before setting out. While, locating a ladies public toilet is a task in itself, using those is giving an open invitation to infections. When spoken to women around the city, all of them seemed to have accepted the lack of toilets as a law of nature. "It is undeniable that the government is denying us a basic facility or rather a fundamental right in a way," said Mariam Iyer (38), an investment banker. "But I guess our body is tuned in such a manner that we do not invite a situation wherein we have to use those dirty loos."

Apart from hygiene, women also pointed out that ladies public toilets are hubs for anti-social elements and that most of the times men are found using them. "I do not feel secure using the toilets during day time let alone using it at night," said Priya Rajan (21), a third year BSc student of Sathe College, Vile Parle.

However, public toilet owners have a unique explanation for this. "We hardly get around 10 to 20 women using the toilets so we allow even men to use them," said Chander Kumar, who owns about 15 toilets in and around Andheri station. "And if girls have a problem they can use the toilets at the railway stations". But what Kumar does not know is that the toilets at the railway stations are far from better.

Most of the stations have only one ladies toilet, which is again shut most of the time because of water shortage or the fear of thieves stealing away the little fittings inside the toilet. "The key usually lies with the station master or the attendant of the waiting room and passengers can seek it from them anytime" said AK Singh, PRO of Central Railways.

There are only 88 toilet blocks throughout the stretch of Central Railways. The condition of toilets is no better in the Western railways. When HT visited the toilets at Lower Parel and Dadar, none of the ladies toilets were functional. While the one at Dadar was suffering from acute water shortage, the door of the toilet at Lower Parel is shut permanently. But, the PRO of Western Railways R Bhagwat insisted that all the toilets were functional. "All the toilets across all platforms are being used to the best of my knowledge," said Bhagwat.

The dread of getting infections also acts as a deterrent for the female community while using the toilets. "I am so sure that if I use the public toilets even once, I would get diseases like urine infection," says 24-year-old Roshni, a college student. "I do not drink water for a couple of hours rather than using those storehouses of infections". Urologist Manish Bansal agreed that women get urine infections very soon because the distance between urethra (the canal through which urine is discharged) and the toilet seat is very close.

Email Sumitra Deb Roy: sumitra.roy@hindustantimes.com