Public toilet repaired in Moti Lal Nehru Camp

Residents of Motilal Lal Nehru camp, a slum settlement in Munirka, had been suffering a lot of hardships since their public toilet had fallen into a state of disrepair. The doors of the public toilet and bathing cubicles were broken which caused a lot of problems for people especially the women and children residing in the camp. No repair/ maintenance work had been undertaken since the toilet was first constructed ten years ago. Despite repeated complaints to the caretaker of the toilet, the situation did not improve. The caretaker was from a private agency that was responsible for the operation of the public toilet constructed by the MCD. The caretaker would say that the maintenance of the toilet was the responsibility of the MCD. Complaints to the MCD remained unresolved as they said that the agency operating the toilet had to undertake all repair works.

Kusum Lata, a resident of the camp and one of the participants of the Community Leaders’ Vigilance Programme’ was keen to understand how the RTI Act could be used to improve the condition of the public toilet. Through the course of the training, she learnt about the process of drafting and filing an application under the RTI Act. With assistance from SNS, she filed an RTI application in the MCD and asked for a copy of the contract for the operation and maintenance of the toilet.

Upon receiving the contract, she realised that as per the contract, the agency operating the toilet was responsible for all major and minor repair works in the toilet. The public toilet was supposed to be painted every 6 months. Additionally, for the families residing in the slum, the agency was required to make a family card at a nominal price of Rs. 30 per month which allowed the family unlimited use of the facility. The terms and conditions of the contract were discussed in the weekly community meeting following which all the residents of the area went to discuss the matter with the caretaker. Left with no way to shrug off the responsibility for maintenance of the toilet, the caretaker ensured that all the necessary repair and maintenance works were done within one week!