No water in Delhi's community toilets, Kejriwal asks official to pay visits

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday directed a senior official to visit five community toilets every day at 6 a.m. from February 11-17, following complaints of shortage of water and electricity in city's community toilets.

The Chief Minister also asked IAS officer Shurbir Singh, CEO of Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), to submit a report within a week, after complaints from MLAs and others.

Kejriwal directed Singh to take immediate remedial steps to redress the situation.

The decisions were taken in an emergency meeting chaired by the Chief Minister here on Saturday.

Locations of toilets for the surprise visits will be decided by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), whose representatives will accompany the CEO.

The report will include video recordings of the visited community toilets with details of cleanliness, availability of water and electricity among others, according to an official statement.

During the meeting, DUSIB members and MLAs Akhilesh Pati Tripathi, Sahi Ram, and Hazari Lal expressed displeasure over the alleged inaction of DUSIB officials.

"Members expressed dissatisfaction over the CEO's performance in the last few months. The board was of the view that whereas it got huge appreciation earlier, there has been constant negative publicity in the media in the last few months," the statement said.

The members also said that the issues cropped up after the government decided to make the use of toilets free of charge and open for 24 hours.

--IANS

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