CHENNAI: Ten months after Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) announced a renovation plan for washrooms in five high-footfall stations, only one has actually been redone. TNIE’s visits to all stations across the network found that the washrooms in underground stations, that CMRL left out of the plan, are urgently in need of intervention.
In September last year, CMRL announced that washrooms at Chennai Central, High Court, Airport, Meenambakkam on the 32.6-km Blue Line, and Thirumangalam on the 22-km Green Line would be renovated. Of these Central, High Court and Thirumangalam are underground stations. So far, only the B5 entrance washroom at Chennai Central has been refurbished. Renovation is under way at Airport and Thirumangalam stations, while work is yet to begin at the remaining locations.
Of the 26 Blue Line stations, 13 are elevated; of 17 on the Green Line, eight are elevated in which washrooms, TNIE found, were clean despite each platform having two lavatories to maintain. In the 22 operational underground stations, however, there were grim signs of neglect.
The difference, staff say, is largely because underground station toilets are located outside the ticketed area, making them accessible to the general public, whereas elevated station washrooms are located beyond the ticket gates and are used almost exclusively by metro passengers.
At the LIC underground station, Ethiraj College student and a regular commuter said the washroom is squalid, with a broken flushing mechanism and damaged fixtures. “I use it only if I don’t have a choice.”
Anna Nagar East Metro station manager Balasubramaniam identified Nehru Park, Kilpauk, Thiyagaraya College, Anna Nagar Tower and Anna Nagar East as underground stations where toilets require constant cleaning. “No matter how many times our staff clean them, they quickly become dirty because of the volume of users,” he said.
Besides, most underground stations have only one toilet each for men and women, maintained by just two or three housekeeping staff, almost all of them women.
“Some days, I can’t even eat food because of what I have to clean. If you ask the commuters, they’d say that they’ve paid `50 a ticket and that they are entitled to mess it up and that it’s my job to clean them,” said a cleaner at Nehru Park station.
A janitor at Kilpauk. who has worked there for over five years said, “Men don’t like this job, they find it embarrassing. We have to clean and manage both the female and male lavatories; I don’t know why they get paid more when we do more work.”
At Blue Line stations, maintained by contractor KCIC, women cleaners receive `480 a day, while men are paid `570. On the Green Line, where A1 FGM holds the outsourcing contract, women are paid `500 and men `530 a day. TNIE found these washrooms were noticeably better maintained than the ones on the Blue Line.
At Chennai Central, which has three washroom enclosures across different exits, only the B5-entrance toilet has been renovated so far and even that hasn’t made a difference.
“This side does not see many passengers, maybe because it is quite away from the Central Railway Station area above the ground. Many don’t even know a washroom here has been redone,” a cleaner said. The station’s other two washrooms remain unkept.
At High Court Metro station, the women’s washroom has been closed for several weeks for pipe repair. A female staff member said women employees often have to travel to another station or go above ground to use a toilet.
CMRL’s public relations office did not respond to a detailed questionnaire TNIE sent over a week ago seeking comment on the delayed renovations and maintenance standards.