In an embarrassing but essential issue, the employees at the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) are forced to relieve themselves in public places as the corporation and the transport department have failed to provide them with proper toilets at bus bays. Only Gandhipuram, Ukkadam, and Singanallur have toilet facilities for the transport employees.

A retired driver and member of the Thamizhnadu Pookkuvarathu Thozhilalar Sangam said that drivers and conductors are subjected to such an embarrassment as they have no other option but to ease themselves in public places because no proper toilets have been installed at the bus bays.

He added that bus stops at Ganapathy, Railway Station, Saravanampatty, Avarampalayam, and Townhall are being used as halting points but they too don’t have proper toilet facilities.

“The field employees, who park their buses at the railway station bus bay, have to get permission from the fire rescue personnel to use the restroom at the fire station,” he told the Covai Post.

He added that complaints have been made to higher officials, but there is no response from them. “We submitted a petition to the former district collector M. Karunakaran last year to construct proper toilet facilities at the bus bays. We even complained with the Human Rights Commission, yet no actions have been taken so far,” he said.

M. Sivan, one of the drivers of the TNSTC, said that the condition is worse at the bus bays outside the city where roadsides are the only options that the staff have, since even the administrations at both the town and Panchayat levels have failed to provide proper toilets.

“Bus bays at panchayats like Perur, Thondamuthur, Kovaipudhur, Thudiyalur, etc. do not have any toilets except the open space. We are forced to ease ourselves on either the roadsides or near the shrubs. This is embarrassing, but we do not have any other options,” Sivan said.

He added that passengers at these bus-bays also suffer due to the absence of toilets and has urged the officials to install toilets atleast at the bus bays where the buses are stationed for a long time.

Apart from the embarrassment they face, TNSTC employees are also subjected to health hazards as they are forced to hold their bladders for a long time. G.Venu, Chief Nephrologist at the PSG Hospitals said that holding urine for a longer time may lead to the formation of kidney stones.

“This will have a major effect among middle-aged men who cannot hold their urine for long. It also results in of urinary tract infections,” he added.