A public toilet near the Nelson Manickam Road vehicular subway and Loyola College in Chennai has remained shut for six months, inconveniencing commuters, railway passengers and students, while Greater Chennai Corporation officials have ordered repairs and promised an enquiry into alleged unpaid wages to a former cleanliness worker.
The facility is located on the service road near the subway and close to a railway station and a pedestrian bridge used by students and other members of the public. The toilet was free to use before its closure.
A Loyola College student told DT Next that the shutdown had left people, particularly those using the pedestrian bridge, struggling to find a toilet during emergencies. The closure has therefore affected not only people travelling through the area but also those who depend on public facilities around the station and college.
The disruption has also affected Govindammal, who worked as a cleanliness worker at the facility for three years. She alleged that she was not paid for three months before the contractor’s agreement ended, leaving around Rs 30,000 in pending wages.
“I have repeatedly informed officials about the dues, but no action has been taken. I am now running a vegetable stall on the pavement to support my family,” Govindammal said, seeking intervention to recover her wages.
GCC officials said Ward 110 had 10 public toilets, but the facility near the Nungambakkam vehicular subway was not included in the list earmarked for maintenance. As a result, no maintenance work had been carried out at the site, officials said.
The explanation points to an administrative gap in the maintenance system: the toilet remained physically present and publicly relevant, but was left outside the list used to assign upkeep responsibilities. The officials did not provide details of when the facility was removed from, or omitted from, the maintenance list.
Officials said they would instruct the contractor responsible for public toilets under the Design Build Finance Operate and Transfer model to undertake the required repairs. The contractor would also be questioned over the alleged non-payment of Govindammal’s wages.
The corporation said an enquiry would be held into the wage complaint. The next steps identified by officials are the contractor’s repair work, examination of the facility’s maintenance responsibility and a review of the allegation that three months of wages remain unpaid.
