Non-payment of water, power bills, staff salary; power supply disconnected; doors closed since a fortnight

Mysore/Mysuru: The city’s first Pink Toilet on Dewan’s Road near D. Devaraj Urs Road, has shut door. It has been a fortnight since the toilet remains inaccessible for women and the reason is trivial: the unpaid water and electricity bills and salary dues for the staff.

Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), taking into cognisance the tourist influx and the womenfolk moving around in the heart of the city, built a toilet exclusively for women, spending about Rs. 37 lakh under State Finance Commission (SFC) grants, in the year 2023. For maintenance, the toilet was handed over to a contractor.

All was well for two years, till complaints of inadequate maintenance emerged, following the mounting water and electricity bills and non-payment of salary for women hired for the job. As the arrears towards electricity bills remain uncleared, the power supply to the toilet has been cut.

Apart from travellers, the women working in nearby shops and their customers, largely relied on this Pink Toilet. Now that the toilet remains closed, they are dependent on the toilet at City Bus Stand near K.R. Circle.

On the other hand, there has been a growing demand for men’s toilet, with the e-toilet earlier built at the intersection of Dewan’s Road and D. Devaraj Urs Road, removed. Following this, the men are forced to relieve in open, turning the road side pavements and vacant places into an open toilet.

It is high time, either the MLA or MCC officers, take note of the grievance and address the same at the earliest, demand the public concerned.