The Gandhipuram bus stand in Coimbatore has many thousand local and out-station visitors everyday. There are a total of seven toilets, including one for the differently abled. One is the Namma toilet, another comes under the direct purview of the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC), two are on contract and two are men urinaries. However, all toilets are poorly maintained. It is hard to say which is worse than the other.

The Covai Post did a random check of the public toilets. Social activist Manoj told The Covai Post that the toilet managed by the contractor violated norms.

At present this toilet was under the direct control of the CCMC. It is six-months old, can accommodate 10 women and as many men at a time. We visited this toilet as customer and the care-taker demanded a sum of Rs. 5 to use it. When we demanded a receipt he asked only a rupee. The toilet needles to say was in a pathetic condition.

When asked about the state, the care-taker said that there was no staff and he ended up cleaning the toilets most of the times. “More number of women make use of the toilet. A majority of them are from out station,” K. Gnanavelu, the care taker, says.

Disappointed with this poorly maintained toilet, we checked out the Namma toilet located outside the bus stand. This one is the latest addition to the public toilets that are located in and around the bus stand that was open to public a month ago.

It looked clean and hygienic, but only from the outside. This toilet is for women and there are no charges to make use of this toilet. Also there is no caretaker. There is an auto-stand in this vicinity and the auto rickshaw drivers double up as care takers of this toilet. “We see many men enter the toilet. We educate them that this is for women only. Moreover, this toilet does not have a mug. We cut plastic bottles and place them inside the toilet,” L. Palaniswamy, one of the auto rickshaw drivers, shares.

An overhead water tank sits on the roof of the toilets. This tank has the capacity to hold 1,000 litres of water. We are told by the auto rickshaw driver that this toilet is cleaned at just one time of the day during the mornings. The water tank runs half dry by the time the cleaner has cleaned the toilets and the remaining water lasts just for a few hours. The Namma toilet is in urgent need of continuous water supply. A government official visits this toilet to check if things are in place on a daily basis in the mornings only. One of the drivers point out that when the official makes his daily trip in the mornings, the toilet is clean and there is enough water in the tank. If only this toilet is well maintained it will solve the problem of many women who are on the move. What all toilets in the Gandhipuram bus stand lack is the phone number of the person to contact to report such discrepancies. They are unclean and this makes them unhygienic too. They also lack proper signage stating which one is for the women, men and the disabled. By law all the public toilets must charge only a rupee for use. But all toilets at the bus stand charged Rs. 5.