The newly constructed deluxe toilet at Dhanbad station on Friday. Picture by Gautam Dey

Railway commuters will soon get some basic amenities at Dhanbad station.

For, the construction work of a sprawling toilet block is over and it will be inaugurated within a day or two.

Built by Bhopal-based firm Vasundhara Sanrakshan Sangathan Samiti on a build-operate-transfer system at a cost of Rs 21 lakh, the 2,000sqft enclosure will house 30 “deluxe” toilets equipped with a host of facilities like hot and cold water, hand driers etc.

Coming up at in the circulating area of the station near the Passenger Reservation Service counter, it will be a pay-and-use facility.

Senior divisional commercial manager of Dhanbad Dayanand said, “The new deluxe toilets have been developed in continuation with the rail division’s initiative to create new facilities.” He added that divisional railway manager of Dhanbad B.B. Singh would inaugurate facility within a couple of days.

Divulging details, the senior divisional commercial manager said the toilet block would have a separate 400sqft reception area where there would be two basins. This particular area will be under CCTV surveillance.

The entire block has been segregated into three enclosures — men, women and physically challenged.

In the men’s section, there will be six urinals, four bathrooms and 11 latrines.

The women’s section, on the other hand, will have six latrines and two bathrooms. The one for the physically challenged will have a bathroom with all facilities like geyser, sliding door and handrails.

All the latrines at the men and women’s enclosures will be Indian-style while the one for the physically challenged will be a western one. Each of these enclosures will also have one basin.

A workforce of eight persons — four caretakers, three sweepers and an in-charge — will be deputed at the deluxe toilets.

Apart from this, a cloakroom facility will also be inaugurated.

Regarding the charges, a source said Re 1 would be charged for urinals, Rs 5 for latrines and Rs 10 for bathrooms.

The cloakroom charges have also been fixed at Rs 10 for a day.

Vasundhara Sanrakshan Samiti will collect the user charges from passengers for the next 15 years in lieu of the money invested for the construction. This is in accordance with the build-operate-transfer rules.

After that the railway authorities will be free to award the contract to any other agency.

Notably, the tender for the construction of these toilets was issued in 2012 and the contract was awarded in 2013. But, the construction work could begin only in March this year, as there was an electric pole at the allotted site.

“Though we are currently getting water and electricity supply from the railways, we are planning to install a separate boring facility of our won to manage the water requirement,” said an official of Vasundhara Sanrakshan Sangathan Samiti, on the condition of anonymity.