Thane: CM Eknath Shinde’s home city has some of the filthiest toilets

With Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde ordering civic staff to maintain the cleanliness of public toilets that fall under BMCrsquos jurisdiction midday conducted a ground study and an audit of public toilets in the CMrsquos own residential city ThaneNot only were the toilets found in a shabby condition but they were also not being cleaned even once in a dayThe first toilet we visited was in a tribal hamlet on the Yeoor Hills with a population of 1200 to 1300 residentsRaja Gunaseelina a local says he has never seen this toilet in a clean stateKokanipadaThe public toilet at Kokanipada is basically a porta cabin placed near the base of this hill some years ago However this toilet has had no facilities since the time it was installed a few years ago and not even water is available The stench from the toilet is so strong that one cannot even stand near it Local Hrishikesh Choudhary said public toilets in the entire area are in a bad condition ldquoThe doors are broken and the toilets are unsanitary As a result they are used only when there is no other option There are only 48 toilets in the area which is insufficient and many of these are out of order Women especially face a lot of problemsrdquo he saidAnother Kokanipada resident Dinesh Warankar said local residents face many problems because of the shabby public toilets ldquoItrsquos really difficult to use these toilets The authorities just construct a toilet but after that no one turns and looks backrdquoThe porta cabin at Kokanipada PicsSatej ShindeKunte Road junctionThe public toilet at Late Prabhakar Kunte Road junction next to the Bethany Hospital reservoir was constructed in 2020 but has an ageold look There is no proper entrance and it appears as though the Thane Municipal Corporation TMC has not cleaned it since it was constructed A local Raja Gunaseelina said ldquoWe have never seen this toilet in a clean state The TMC just spent money on the construction but there was no maintenance Now no one can even enter the toiletrdquo he said Other locals also claimed that the toilet hasnrsquot been cleaned even once since it was builtSwapnil Mahindrakar civic activist and MNS party workerAai Mata ChowkThe toilet near Savarkar Nagar Aai Mata Chowk has no amenities no water supply and the facility is also unclean ldquoThis area has heavy footfall But the TMC doesnrsquot care about the basic needs of people We never saw the authorities sanitise this public toilet Now it is so filthy it even cleaning it has become pointlessrdquo said local resident Pankaj Patole He added that it is not used because of the stenchLocals at Aai Mata chowk say they have never seen the toilet being cleanedWagle EstateWagle estate is an Industrial zone with a heavy footfall of daily wage workers who come here for work However there is no proper public toilet facility There is one public toilet next to the ESIC hospital Vaibhav Thackeray who visits Wagle Estate said the condition of this public toilet is among the worst ldquoThe toilet is leaking and sewage flows onto the road Also the urinal is choked and is never cleaned Some doors of the toilets are broken Women canrsquot even think of enteringrdquo he saidSwapnil Mahindrakar MNS party worker and civic activist said despite Thane being a part of the Smart City project people are not even getting basic facilities ldquoCrores of rupees are spent to build toilets but they are not maintained It is suspected that these toilets are built only for the benefit of construction contractorsrdquo he saidRecently CM Shinde slammed BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal over the condition of public toilets in the city Chahal then ordered that public toilets be cleaned five times a dayThane Deputy Municipal Commissioner Tushar Pawar and former Thane mayor and spokesperson of Shiv Sena Naresh Mhaske did not respond to messages5No of times public toilets in Mumbai have to be cleaned