16 February,2018 09:10 AM IST | Mumbai | Rajendra B. Aklekar
Empty chairs stared at the top railway officials at the Central Railway headquarters yesterday, as just four of the 25 Members of Parliament on the list turned up for the meeting
Two of the 25 city Members of Parliament who attended a meeting with Central Railway and Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation officials yesterday, have demanded better public toilet facilities on railway premises. BJP MP Kirit Somaiya called for waiving off Rs 1 on urinal charges, and Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant demanded that ladies compartments in local trains be provided with toilet facilities.
Besides Somaiya and Sawant, only BJP's Kapil Patil and Shiv Sena's Rajan Vichare attended the meeting though the 25 MPs were on the list. "The General Manager and team have agreed to waive off R1 on urinals at stations. I had been pushing for this for quite some time," Somaiya said.
Sawant said trains go all the way to Dahanu, Kasara and Karjat, a journey which takes at least three hours and asked how are commuters supposed to travel such long distances without a public toilet onboard. "It is more of a problem for women. If an AC can be fitted in local trains, why not toilets?" Sawant added. He reiterated the demand of a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the front garden of the CSMT building.
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Railway officials said new contractors will not charge for urinals but the charge of Re 1 will continue at some stations till the contract expires. About toilets in local trains, CR's divisional railway manager SK Jain said so far there had been no discussion on it.
On the occasion of World Toilet Day on November 19 last year, the Western Railway (WR) came up with an initiative to track and monitor the condition of toilets at 17 railway stations of Mumbai. The WR announced the Smart Feedback system through which people will be able to scan a QR code put up outside toilets using their phones and answer a couple of questions related to maintenance.
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