Page 65 - Clean India Journal - August 2023 Digital Edition

Sanitation

by the government bodies
must be used. At present,
many agencies are using
homemade chemicals or
phenyl. The contract may
only stipulate that ‘cleaning
chemicals’ need to be used;
over-diluted phenyl also
fulfills this requirement. It
is not an uncommon sight to
see a half-full can of branded
chemical at a public toilet, and
to continue to see it half-full
till the end of the contract.

Auditors needed

There are no clear In government bodies – HR,
definitions of what admin or sanitation inspectors
– whoever are responsible
‘cleaning’ constitutes; for public toilet maintenance,
only ‘cleaning services needs to be accountable.
are to be provided’ However, there may not be
enough personnel to properly
is mentioned. Vague oversee public toilets.
terms are used, like ‘the Hence, regular third-party
toilet has to be cleaned audits of and for cleaning,

properly’. grading and ranking of public
toilets is essential. Using the
SOP as a guide, auditing will
Shriram Ghate reveal whether the promised
output has been delivered or
not. An auditor’s job is not
Better materials just to find mistakes but also

At many public toilets, determine reasons for it and
cleaning is done as per suggest ways to correct the
traditional, manual practices mistakes.
that involve a bucket, mop and
phenyl. Modern technology is Rooftops
yet to be implemented, either At present, in many cases,
due to a lack of knowledge the rooftop of a public toilet is
or lack of funds. Cleaning is utilised only for water storage
not the be-all and end-all of tanks, cleaners’ rest room and
toilet maintenance; hygiene is. storage of sundry material; it
This needs proper investment may even be unused. Since
in both men and machines the public toilets in open
that are meant exclusively for spaces are very accessible
toilets. In my entire career, I and visible, their roofs can be
have never seen high pressure monetised by leasing them
jets being used to clean public out for advertisements, or
toilets. installing solar panels that can
Only those chemicals that make them independent of the
are branded and approved grid for power.

Clean India Journal•AUGUST 2023 65
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