NEW DELHI: Even the best of plans fails when basic details are not taken care of. The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has closed the operation of 63 toilets — constructed at a cost of Rs 4.5 crore — due to non-availability of electricity and water.
The toilets were built at 63 different locations in the SDMC area under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan for the purpose of having Open Defecation Free (ODF) localities. “Each toilet was built at a cost of Rs 9 lakh. They were ready to use from a long time but if there is no electricity and water, how can we run them,” an SDMC official said.
Also, there were some toilets that were forced to shut down as the sanitation system was not proper. “These toilets were operational, but the waste disposal system was not right. All the waste would accumulate right by its side,” said GH Singh, a 63-year-old resident of Jangpur.
Work may have not started to make these toilets operational, but blame games certainly have taken place after the closure of these facilities. The Opposition leader in the SDMC, Praveen Kumar, alleged that SDMC mayor Narendra Chawla was involved in irregularities in the construction of the toilets. “On the one side Prime Minister Narendra Modi is dreaming of a clean India, while on the other, his party’s men are involved in crashing his dream.
There has been a steady inflow of funds for the Swachh Bharat Mission, but not one rupee is used for the people,” he claimed, adding that this was a sign of discrepancies. But Chawla asserted that there was no scam in the construction of toilets. He, however, admitted that toilets had been shut.
“It is true that some toilets are not operational, but all efforts are on to make them functional at the earliest. We are trying to contact agencies which will help us run the toilets again. Very soon, they will be open to the general public,” he said.