No backing in law for forcing
restaurants
to
let
noncustomers use toilets for a
charge: Bibek Debroy
No backing in law for forcing restaurants to let non-customers
use toilets for a charge: Bibek Debroy
There is a dashboard for Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Gramin.
This isn’t only about toilets. On toilets, at the time of
writing (since it is a dashboard, the figure changes
constantly), 36.5 million toilets have been built.
There is a dashboard for Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Gramin.
This isn’t only about toilets. On toilets, at the time of
writing (since it is a dashboard, the figure changes
constantly), 36.5 million toilets have been built. The allIndia coverage was 42.02% in October 2014 and is 62.22% now.
Therefore, cumulatively, 103.3 million households now have
toilets. Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Sikkim and Uttarakhand have
100% coverage and Chandigarh is fast approaching that
threshold. Conversely, or perversely, the numbers are low in
Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha and
Uttar Pradesh. These are through the individual household
latrine scheme, community sanitary complexes are different.
Similarly, there is a dashboard for SBM (urban). This shows
3.1 million household toilets have been constructed; 115,785
community and public toilets have also been constructed.
Sikkim, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh are approaching 100%
coverage, Gujarat is approaching 95%. But there is also
Meghalaya, with a coverage of 0.02%. Understandably, the
community and public focus is greater in urban than in rural.
That’s good news, at least in some states. However, for every
silver lining, there is a cloud, and I am not going to harp on
so-called laggard states. Nor am I going to focus on rural.
Let’s talk about urban, something the average English-language
newspaper reader readily identifies with. Observer Research
Foundation (Mumbai) has just come out with a book/report
authored by Dhaval Desai—Finding Answers to Nature’s Call in
Maximum City. (The title is actually in Hindi, this is the
sub-title.) This is stock-taking of the state of public
toilets in Mumbai and it isn’t only about building public
toilets, but also maintaining them, once built. Here is a
quote about a case that received some attention two years ago.
“Mrs Kalpana Pimpale, a 45-year-old widow and loving mother of
two teenaged children, died when she fell into the filled-tocapacity septic tank when the entire floor of the toilet
occupied by her collapsed, plummeting her into the deadly
depth below. Her body was extricated with the help of
firefighters four hours later. Incidentally, the toilet block
was constructed just five years ago under the MCGM’s
(Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) Slum Sanitation
Programme, which mandates the contractor to ensure structural
solidity of the toilet blocks for 30 years.”
This unfortunate incident raises obvious questions about
contract enforcement and establishing culpability. This
incident occurred in a slum in Mankhurd. Our perception,
entirely valid, is that sanitation conditions in slums are
atrocious. The base-level is so low that incremental
improvements haven’t made much of a dent yet. The ORF book
documents this, and in fairness, also documents several best
practices. Moving away from slums, what will you do if you
need to visit a toilet in the area around Gateway of India?
There is a Sulabh Shauchalaya block there and I will not quote
from the depressing description given of this complex.
Suffice it to say, you can’t really use it, especially if you
happen to be a lady. I have personally faced this problem, not
just around Gateway of India, but in other places in Mumbai,
and other cities. What do you do when you are abroad? You look
for a public toilet (sometimes paid) in, or around, a metro
station, a tourist spot or a mall. Rarely will you search for
a hotel. In India, barring some malls, a hotel is the only
answer. From April 1, there will be some change in Delhi, at
least for area under South Delhi Municipal Corporation. Every
hotel, restaurant and “eatery” has been directed to grant open
access to all citizens, irrespective of whether they are
customers or not. At best, there is discretion to charge a fee
of Rs 5. How can a government arbitrarily inflict this on
hotels, restaurants and eateries? At least for part of this, I
think legislative backing exists. There is an Indian Sarais
Act of 1867.
“Sarai means any building used for the shelter and
accommodation of travellers, and includes, in any case in
which only part of a building is used as a sarai, the part so
used of such building.” This certainly covers hotels, though
perhaps not restaurants and “eateries”. Several
states/districts have made it mandatory for hotels to be
registered under this statute. Section 7(2) of this old
legislation states, “The keeper of a sarai shall be bound at
all times when required by any Magistrate or any other person
duly authorised by the Magistrate of the District in this
behalf, to give him free access to the sarai and allow him to
inspect the same or any part thereof”. That “free access” was
meant for a different purpose. Nevertheless, rules can
probably be formulated under Section 7(2).
I am not sure about legislative backing for restaurants and
“eateries”. These are generally covered by Shops and
Establishments Acts. But I don’t think present structure of
those Acts allows for the kind of toilet rules we now have in
mind, though I have come across boards where “to let” is spelt
as “toilet”. Once, late in night, near Moolchand Flyover, I
saw someone relieving himself on the road. He had got down
from a car, and presumably, should have known better. I felt
like getting down and censuring him. However, I checked
myself. Where could he possibly have gone? Malls had closed
and the nearest hotel was a long distance away.
The author is member, NITI Aayog. Views are personal.
Source: xaam.in