Five years on, women users see red as trash engulfs Tiruchy's first Pink Toilet

While the toilets at the complex constructed at a total cost of about Rs 40 lakh continue to be maintained, the room housing the water ATM is now used by the corporation’s sanitation workers for storing trash cans and the like.

A view of the Pink Toilet near Chathiram bus stand in Tiruchy on Sunday Photo| Express

TIRUCHY: The corporation’s first Pink Toilet -- a women's sanitation complex including a health centre and a water dispensing kiosk -- opened near Chathiram bus stand in 2019 is reduced to an ordinary lavatory as trash cans and waste material now occupy the other two rooms of the unit.

While the toilets at the complex constructed at a total cost of about Rs 40 lakh continue to be maintained, the room housing the water ATM is now used by the corporation’s sanitation workers for storing trash cans and the like. Similarly, the health centre, which was meant to offer emergency medical care to commuters and others, remains closed, with sanitation workers using it to store garbage.

According to commuter Valarmathi S, who visited the toilet complex on Sunday, said, "The rooms [at the complex] should be used for some other purpose if it [corporation] is unable to keep the water ATM and the health centre operational. I thought I could fill up my water bottle when I saw the water ATM kiosk.

Waste bin and other garbage sack kept inside the water ATM counter of Pink Toilet near Chathiram bus stand in Tiruchy

The presence of trash cans and waste material, however, there surprised me. It is a shame that the corporation is maintaining the sanitation complex like this." Kanmani, a local into vending near Chathiram bus stand for the past seven years, said, “I think the complex was opened in July 2019. That time, there was a health worker who used to offer first-aid and medical check-ups.

The water ATM also used to operate upon inserting a `5 coin for a litre. It was helpful for many of us. By the end of the year (December 2019) though, the ATM stopped working, and the corporation also discontinued the health services at the centre. Though the Chathiram bus stand complex has toilet facility of its own, several people use this [integrated] complex.

We hence want the corporation to resume operations of the water ATM and the health centre.” When enquired, senior corporation officials assured to look into the issue. "We will take up the matter with the health team and the engineering section. We will enquire the reason behind closing the water ATM and the health centre, and consider taking steps to resume operations," a senior official told TNIE.