New Delhi: Mumbai's most expensive public toilet, built at a cost of Rs 35 lakh, has been declared unfit for use by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
The public toilet, at the Oval Maidan, is famous not only for its cost but also the endless controversy. In all, it functioned for barely a month.
With mounting pressure to put it to use or demolish it, a team of senior BMC officials studied the toilet over the past few weeks and concluded that it simply could not be used as a toilet in its existing form.
They declared it unfit saying that it is located just below the main sewage line and its own sewage line is at least six inches below the main one. So instead of flowing out, sewage flows back into the toilet, making it unusable.
Hence the toilet block will now be used as a store-room.
Located opposite Bombay High Court, the underground toilet faced controversy from its inception, when residents got together to ensure that its location was shifted.
They approached the Bombay High Court and opposed it vehemently, forcing authorities to shift the toilet.
When it was finally built, residents complained that it had become a magnet for urchins, and that at least a dozen people had made it their home.
The Bombay High Court also raised an objection - that it posed a security threat.
Finally, when all hurdles were seemingly cleared in early 2011, the toilet was thrown open to the public.
However, it shut down again in a month after people complained that it would flood often and could therefore be used for only a few hours every day.
