BANGALORE: Grandly named ‘Nirmala’, these toilets had funds-backing from none less than Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Narayanamurthy.
But as they say, toilets do raise a stink sometimes. Especially when people who are supposed to keep them from doing so, are engaged in a fight of their own.
Most of the over 126 toilets across the city are almost unusable because of poor maintenance while a few have already downed their shutters.
The company, which had been given the contract to maintain the toilets, is happy enough with the revenue it makes through the advertisements displayed here. As for the cleaning and maintaining part, the company prefers to pass the buck to the BBMP, even managing to obtain a stay order against BBMP’s termination of the contract.
The BBMP, on its part, says that the contractors, who are making money out of these toilets, are responsible in maintaining them too.
Hype Integrated Communications, the contractor, which won the contract on a BOT basis in 2008, says that it is concerned with only 31 toilets in the East zone.
“They (BBMP) terminated the contract after a protest by the purakarmikas,” a representative from the company said. After the BBMP terminated the contract, the responsibility falls back on the Palike but the civic body is yet to realise this and so are blaming the private company for the sad state of the toilets. “Hype is still taking care of about 31 toilets in the East zone for the investments runs up to Rs 2 crore and when the contract was signed it was mentioned that all the due bills had to be cleared before handing over the toilets. The bills include a penalty of Rs 5-6,000 from each toilet and we had written to the Health Officials about this. But even before they could get back to us, a protest happened,” explained the representative from Hype company.
Internal blamegame When asked about the maintenance, the officials pass on the responsibility to other officials.
BBMP deputy commissioner (Health) Venkateshappa said that the Nirmala toilet issue pertains to the advertising department or the engineering department.
BBMP deputy commissioner (Ads) Govindaraju says that the issue pertains to the health section.