BHUBANESWAR: Grappling with issues ranging from theft of motors to poor maintenance, e-toilets worth crores - commissioned under Smart City Mission - in the Capital city are now lying defunct at a number of places. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation stone for the project ahead of the Hockey World Cup in November 2018.
Adozen of these hybrid toilets, for which the government has spent at least Rs 18 lakh per unit, are lying defunct owing to various reasons. At least three such units for women near City Women’s College, Utkal Mandap and Kalinga Stadium are not in a working condition as motors that ensure water supply to these units, have allegedly been stolen.
A BMC engineer said police complaint has been lodged in this regard, while steps are being taken to install new motors. He also said that the civic body has reinstalled motors in at least five more locations in the past. Apart from this, poor maintenance has also rendered many of these modular toilet units non-functional.
At Vani Vihar square, one modular toilet remains locked throughout the day owing to disruption in water supply, while in Forest Park two toilet units commissioned since 2018 are still lying unused due to poor upkeep. Sources said the toilet units at Vani Vihar and Master Canteen remain locked most of the time as the civic body has no manpower for their regular cleaning and maintenance.
An official from the civic body said that the annual maintenance contract (AMC) with the private firm, that had installed these toilets, has not been renewed after it lapsed in 2019. Though the BMC has engaged persons to run these toilet units at some places, it doesn’t have the technical manpower for maintenance of these automatic and semi-automatic units that initially had card-based entry but was abandoned later owing to technical glitches. In Forest park, the sensors of the modular toilets have been damaged by miscreants.
Meanwhile, the BSCL and BMC have also not been able to install all the e-toilets planned under the project even after four years. Out of 60 prefabricated modular toilets planned for 30 different locations of the city, the Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) operationalised 18 toilets. Later, 24 more such toilets were commissioned in 12 places, taking the total number to 42.
However, the multi-crore project for which the State government has earmarked Rs 5.76 crore under Smart City Mission still remains incomplete.BMC Executive Engineer Hrusikesh Sahu said eight more toilet units will come up soon taking the total number to 50. Besides, he said the AMC will also be renewed this year with Eram Scientific Solutions Private Limited.