Marathi actress Mukta Barve’s bad toilets’ post raises a stink in Pune

Well known Marathi actress Mukta Barve on Thursday exposed the poor maintenance of toilets at public places by putting up photographs of filthy urinals and dirty toilets located at the Yashwantrao Chavan auditorium located in Kothrud. She uploaded the photographs on her social media account and many people reacted to the photographs. The actress blamed the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for not keeping the toilets clean.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi started the Swachh Bharat Mission and BJP workers were a part of this initiative too, but now the event is only a photo opportunity every October 2 and the condition of toilets in the city is still very poor.

The interesting thing is that the PMC is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and all the MLAs and MPs from the city are from this party, which propagates the Swachh Bharat Mission, hence, Barve’s post on social media exposed the PMC. 

“The situation of the toilets in all the auditoriums is near about the same. PMC and concerned authorities are not serious about it. Every time the PMC authorities are giving different reasons for poor toilets and not cleaning it properly. What to say, is this situation negligence or arrogance. They are taking actors and audience for granted,” Barve said in her post.  As soon as Barve raised this issue, the administration and political leaders immediately acted on it and tried to solve this problem.

Praksh Amrale, head of all auditoriums under the PMC accepted that what Barve complained about is right. The tender of the previous contractor ended in March 2017 and was later extended till May. Now, as there is no contractor, the ward office employees do the cleaning work. The ward office employees are visiting only one or two times in a day to clean the toilets and sometimes even bunk it. Considering the crowd at the auditorium, it is natural that toilets would stink, he said.

Standing committee chairman Murlidhar Mohol said that there is a need to conduct cleaning work with the help of a private agency and introduce a mechanised system. He also visited the auditorium and conducted a meeting with PMC officials. 

NCP’s city unit president and MP Vandana Chavan told Hindustan Times that she is raising the issue of public toilets and their conditions in the city since the last many years and is now tired. Chavan said, “Now I am frustrated by raising this issue time and again. In fact, I have requested our parliamentary committee on Women Empowerment to take up this issue.”