RMC toilets expose swachh vow

CLEAR VIEW 

The municipal corporation in Ranchi doesn't seem to practice what it preaches.

While civic mandarins are doing extra legwork to bring various areas of the capital under the swachh scanner, the RMC's own sense of hygiene and sanitation is kicking up stink.

The corporation's G+3 office at Kutchery Chowk on record has no dearth of manpower and resources, and yet the urinals and toilets used by more than 1,500 staff and daily visitors barely pass muster as restrooms.

All the floors boast tiled toilets with wash basins, but lack of maintenance throws up an olfactory challenge in these dirty, dank chambers. The urinals, some of which were constructed only two years ago, are worse off - choking on unmentionables if not irreparably damaged.

Fearing they will contract some infection if they use the dirty loos, many corporation employees and visitors relieve themselves in the open.

The irony: RMC has 450-plus registered safai workers.

A general section clerk said they hated it when it was breezy outside. "The stench is wafted along by the wind. My office is on the ground floor, where the situation is worst. It is nauseating."

The male toilets on the first and second floors have defunct flush and missing or broken taps. Interestingly, the chamber of RMC health officer Kiran Kumar is bang opposite one of the stinking toilets.

"No one bothers to replace them. The toilets and urinals need round-the-clock cleaning given the daily footfall. But, they are rarely sanitised on alterative days. Phenol isn't used in adequate quantity either," said an employee of RMC's bazaarsection that issues hoarding permits.

Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, a resident of Ward 4, said the RMC's claim of an open-defecation free capital ringed hollow. "On the one hand, the corporation is eager to clean the whole of Ranchi; on the other hand, its own backyard is an eyesore for visitors."

Ranchi deputy mayor Sanjeev Vijayvargiya conceded that the sanitary situation at their Kutchery Chowk office was disgusting, but offered no solution.

Public relations officer Naresh Kumar too admitted the toilet truths. "I will look into the matter and ensure cleanliness is maintained," he said.