Literate' Keralites mess up bio-toilet

Kochi: Certain die-hard habits of commuters are giving a torrid time to divisional railway authorities in carrying out the ‘Go-Green’ initiative of setting up bio-toilets in trains in the division. “The careless attitude of passengers in disposing wastes into the bio-toilet pan is resulting in the system getting damaged. According to our cleaning staff, cigarette butts, pan masala covers and liquor bottle caps comprise a large share of waste found to be blocking the tank and resulting in overflow of toilets,” a senior officer said.

The railways selected the region to experiment with bio-toilets in the hope of convincing commuters about the “do’s and don’ts” to maintain the facility, hoping it was easier to do so here than in places like Bihar. “Another thing we found that commuters use are small soap bars for train journeys. This results in soap slips which kills the anaerobic bacteria added in the tank for degrading human wastes. Another harmful practice is the disposal of napkins by children,” he said.

“With a view to accelerate setting up of bio-toilets in trains from the division, we are converting two of the four toilets in the coaches into bio-toilets when they are sent for periodic overhauling (mandatory maintenance carried out every nine months),” Sunil Bajpai, Thiruvananthapuram divisional railway manager, said. As of now, 279 coaches in the division feature the facility (half bio-toilets) besides two ‘Green’ trains — the Ernakulam-Okha Express (T No 16338) and the Kochuveli-Bangalore (T No 16316) Express.

The divisional authorities now plan to draw commuters’ attention towards the issue by frequent announcements in major stations and running captions on display boards.