Mumbai: Suburban stations to get bio-toilets for women soon

A bio-toilet fitted to a rail coach. File pic

With bio-toilets slowly turning out to be a success on trains, the Central Railway now plans to construct compost loos for women at all the suburban stations. The authorities have already floated tender for the project. The stations where the toilets would come up first include Mulund, Nahur, Bhandup, Kanjurmarg, Vikhroli, Ghatkopar, Vidyavihar, Govandi and Mankhurd. Sources said that after the bids were opened up in March, work would be completed in the next three months.

Mentioning that the introduction of bio-toilets on trains has been successful to a certain extent, Jitendra Gupta of Mumbai Transport Forum, said, "It remains to be seen how the system is implemented at railway stations." According to sources, the major complaint related to these toilets on trains has been that commuters misuse them. Often they are found clogged with bottles, cigarette butts, gutka packets and sanitary napkins. The authorities have also received complaints related to insufficient water pressure. However, divisional officials said that the problems related to the toilets were being fixed and they were also being upgraded.

Adding that the bio-toilets were environment-friendly and helped save a huge amount of water, an official said, "The railways will soon upgrade the existing bio-toilets to bio-vacuum ones, which are used in aircraft. They have suction pumps, which further reduces the requirement of water. The railways will soon conduct trials of the bio-vacuum toilets."

Bio-toilets help decompose waste
The compost toilets have a bio-digester, which helps to decompose waste in the digester tank using high-grade bacteria. The bio-digester requires no maintenance and can also function in the absence of a sewage system.

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