Toilet operators fleece rail passengers at Secunderabad station

Secunderabad: The toilet operators at the Secunderabad railway Station are fleecing passengers. They never repay change to customers and insist on money in spite of the facility being free.  The display board clearly mentions it is Rs 2 for toilet usage and Rs 5 for bathroom usage but for urinals, it is free.

About 234 trains halt at Secunderabad Railway station ferrying close to 2 lakh passengers every day. There are three pay and use toilets on platform number 1, 6 and 10.  The toilet operators say no free urinals and money is collected for maintenance. Anywhere around 10, 000 to 12, 000 passengers use these toilets in a day. Passengers complain that the operators never return the change and argue with them when they insist. Moving further, it is necessary to have rupee coins if not it is not possible to avail toilets. Two days ago, an aged passenger, Suvarna, who is a diabetic, was waiting for her son on the platform after getting down from Godavari Express around 6 a.m. was denied the use of the toilet as she had Rs 100 note.  

“When asked to pay Rs 2 to avail toilet for urination on platform no 1, I have given Rs 10 but later I was not given the remaining Rs 8. When questioned, the operator was very rude to me and denied to give the change,” said Basu Sabbar, a passenger who was travelling to Orissa. “I was charged Rs 5 for urinal usage on Platform no 6. When asked, the operator says nowhere in the Secunderabad Railway Station is providing free urinal usage.  The money is collected for maintenance,” said P Savitha, travelling to Mumbai.

Similarly, another women, seeing others giving Rs 2 for urinal usage, have given Rs 5 to the operator but she was not given Rs 3 back. When questioned, the operator on platform no 1 said that Rs 2 for men and Rs 5 for women. TBN Prasad, station master, said, “Earlier, we levied penalties of Rs 20,000 on toilet operators for collecting money. Again we will conduct a drive and levy fines.” He further said that, it is duty of the passenger too to file a complaint when come across such incidents instead walking away.

Station director, Vasudeva Reddy said, “There is no need to pay money for urinal usage. We will take action against it.” In the meanwhile around 1:30 pm on Sunday, the deputy station superintendent, Bapiraju, questioned the pay and use toilet operators.

BY Sushma Nagaraju & K B Ramesh