Even as India aspires to become a global superpower, millions of its citizens aren’t even given the dignity of access to a toilet, forced to instead defecate in the open. Here, in Mumbai, even when the authorities try to improve the situation by building toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission, the efforts are derailed by ego clashes between the government agencies.

A front-page report in this paper yesterday highlighted how the BMC and Western Railway have wasted time and money, bickering over a toilet instead of coordinating with each other. In March, the BMC began building a pay-and-use toilet under the Bandra East skywalk without informing WR about it. In return, WR demolished the toilet without giving the corporation any warning.