Soon, no more filthy loos at Mumbai’s police stations

The toilet at JJ Marg police station in December 2018

After facing considerable criticism in the past few decades over unhygienic toilets, police stations in Mumbai will soon get a dose of cleanliness as the force has decided to outsource housekeeping staff. Ordinarily, every police station has just one sweeper who works an eight-hour shift, which does not ensure proper cleaning.

mid-day has, over the years, reported on the abysmal condition of toilets in Mumbai police stations. The staff at police stations have to bear the brunt of the filthy toilets. As per the current arrangement, officers at police stations pay the sweepers out of their own pockets.

The toilets at Azad Maidan police station on Wednesday

"The problem of unhygienic toilets will be addressed. We are floating a tender to outsource housekeeping staff as per a Government Resolution (GR). The private staff will be responsible for maintaining hygiene and proper cleanliness," said Vishwas Nangre Patil, joint commissioner of police (law and order).

Also read: Juhu Gully toilet can script a hygiene story for city

Other issues too

"Apart from the hygiene issues, there is a lot of deadstock, including registers and files which are decades old and are occupying a lot of space inside the police stations. Everything will be auctioned as per police manuals," Nangre Patil added.

According to Mumbai Police, so far, they have been following old orders of the government where only one sweeper was supposed to work at every police station as permanent staff.

"For just one sweeper, the burden is huge. There are multiple cabins of officers, departments at the station house and the entire campus of the police station which are to be cleaned," an officer said.

"There are a lot of vacancies as far as sweeping staff is concerned but there has been no fresh recruitment since 2016," the officer added. This is what has led to officers at police stations hiring sweepers on their own. A Mumbai police constable said, "It gets especially dirty during monsoon. People enter the toilet with dirty and wet footwear, which creates a mess. Many people have slipped on the slick floor. The only cleaning that happens is in the morning."

Based on the latest GR, Mumbai police's tender calls for at least five housekeeping staff at every police station and one at the office of every deputy police commissioner and assistant police commissioner. With 94 police stations across Mumbai, the force will collectively employ more than 500 housekeeping staff. If needed, the housekeeping staff will also be hired for police quarters.

‘Great news'

"This is great news if the plan gets implemented. We have been using unhygienic toilets which stink up the entire police station premises. The common public also uses the facilities which creates a problem for us. Having dedicated and adequate cleaning staff will certainly improve the conditions in terms of hygiene," a constable said.