Now, pay as you please at toilets in Western Railway stations in Mumbai

The reason behind the move is to make the contractors keep the urinals clean

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Western Railway (WR) has introduced the concept of ‘Pay as you please’ for its free urinals on its suburban railway stations. The plan was introduced on Friday and is now operational at Andheri, Jogeshwari, Goregaon, Malad, Mira Road, Dahisar, Bhayandar, Naigaon, Kandivli and Borivli railway stations.

While the facility has been introduced at some stations, all suburban railway stations under WR will soon have the ‘Pay as you please’ facility. (HT FILE)

All suburban railway stations under WR will soon have this facility. The reason for introducing pay as you please on its free urinals is to make the contractors keep the urinals clean.

“The contractors are likely to look after the washroom and urinals from which they get some additional monetary benefit. Every station has the facility of free urinals along with paid-for urinals, which are generally more dirty and not maintained properly. After introducing this facility, we think contractors will be motivated to maintain the free urinals expecting monetary gain,” said a Western Railway official.

The commuters are not obliged to pay for using the free urinals facility. “Commuters using the facility can choose not to pay anything. The purpose is to ensure that the urinals are being manned. A box for dropping money will be placed outside the urinals and the money will be collected by the contractor,” said Mukul Jain, divisional railway manager, Western Railway.

WR started charging Rs1 for urinals and Rs2 for washroom six months ago. The Central Railway on the other hand after constant requests from passenger associations has decided to stop charging Rs1 for urinals. However, only newly constructed urinals will be free to use, and only after the contract to charge users expires.