Public toilets at Thane Railway Station vandalised, repairs underway

The incident took place on Friday night.

Public toilet facilities at Thane railway station were vandalised by unidentified miscreants on Friday night, causing major inconvenience to passengers.

According to Central Railway officials, multiple toilet blocks across various platforms were found broken and choked. Restoration work is currently in progress to bring the facilities back into operation as soon as possible.

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The damaged toilets are located at:

Platform No 1 (Kalyan-end)

Platform No 2 (Middle)

Platform No 2 (Kalyan-end)

Platform No 10A

"The damaged toilets are being repaired or replaced, and we aim to restore the amenities for public use at the earliest," a Central Railway spokesperson said.

The railway administration has appealed to passengers and members of the public to refrain from such destructive acts and to help protect public infrastructure. Anyone with information about those responsible is urged to contact the Railway Protection Force (RPF) or report to the station authorities at Thane.

Praja Report reveals Mumbai's slum toilets lack water, women face sanitation crisis

Mumbai's slums are facing a severe shortage of community toilets, reveals the latest Praja Foundation report, which exposes the city's dismal state of sanitation. The report also highlights that nearly 395 million litres of drinking water is wasted daily due to pipeline leakage.

"Mumbai's water supply system suffers from serious disparities between available resources and their distribution. The city receives 4370 million litres per day (MLD) of water, but due to pipeline losses, only 3975 MLD reaches users," said Milind Mhaske, CEO, Praja Foundation. The city requires 4664 MLD daily, resulting in a shortfall of 689 MLD or 15 per cent.

The Praja report, released Tuesday at the Mumbai Press Club, paints an equally grim picture of the city's community toilets. As of 2024, only one in four public toilet seats is available for women. In 2023, one community toilet seat served 86 men and 81 women, far above the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) norm of 35 men and 25 women per seat.

Of the 6800 community toilet blocks in Mumbai in 2023: 69 per cent (4518) lacked water connections and 60 per cent (4010) had no electricity. The data was obtained by Praja Foundation via Right to Information (RTI).

According to SBM norms, one toilet block should cater to 100-400 men and 100-200 women, but in Mumbai, one seat serves 752 men and 1820 women, revealing a staggering gap in infrastructure.

Additionally, response time to civic complaints has worsened. "In 2024, Mumbaikars filed over 1.15 lakh citizen complaints, a 70 per cent increase from 67,773 in 2015," said Shreyas Corgi, manager - research and analysis at Praja Foundation.