Sulabh promises making toilets scribble-free after women fall victims

New Delhi, Nov 22 (IANS) Sulabh International on Thursday said it will remove obscene graffiti from all its public toilets situated inside the Delhi Metro stations and issue an advisory to lavatory attendants to keep a watch on the vandals and scrub off any noxious text the moment they come across them.


The social service organisation, which is contracted by the Delhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC) to run the public toilets inside its stations, agreed to wipe out obscene scribbling after complaints were raised with it of women falling victim to the pernicious activity. 

A woman (name witheld on request) has been getting calls for the last six months from men, most of whom abruptly ask her: "How much does she charge?". It was quite sometime before she forced one of the persistent callers to tell her from where he got the number. 

"It so happened that some man, possibly in an act of revenge, wrote my name and number inside the public washroom at one of the metro station, linking me to prostitution. I have been getting these calls for months now. I have no option but to change my number," she told IANS. 

She said along with her name, there was a list of numbers with other women's names, all were linked to the same trade. 

Though these fake 'calling cards' inside the public washrooms should not come as a surprise to most of us, since they are so common, what ruinous effects such mischief can lead to should be alarming. 

A spokesperson for Sulabh International said he will issue an advisory immediately to the staff who attend the public toilets at metro stations. 

"I will issue order immediately to clean all such texts inside the toilets. They will all be cleaned within two-three days. I will also issue an advisory to the staff on how to be vigilant against these acts," Kashi Nath Jha said. 

He also spoke about limitations one is faced with when one considers possibility of punitive action against the culprits, one of which is to identify them. 

"We cannot install CCTV cameras inside the washroom," he said, describing it as the main handicap. 

The DMRC said all walls and doors at the station washroom where the defamatory content was written was cleaned up immediately after the complaint. 

"DMRC takes all possible care to ensure that the toilets within its compund are clean and free of any unwarranted grafitti or writings. Whenever any such thing is noticed, it is immediately removed. 

"The Sulabh and other staff at the toilets are also instructed accordingly. At the same time, we would also request the users to refrain from writing on the toilet walls. Such misconduct would be liable for stern action," Anuj Dayal, Executive Director, Corporate Communication, DMRC, said. 

Of more than 200 stations on Delhi Metro network, Sulabh has its facility at 196 of them.