Smart toilets shut, water ATMs dry as Raipur’s public sanitation collapses

 

 

 

Behind Raipur’s glossy rankings on Swachh Bharat dashboards lies a festering truth, the city’s public sanitation infrastructure is falling apart. The Hitavada Civic Lens this week uncovered a glaring breakdown of basic sanitation access, as the capital city reels under the fallout of locked smart toilets and non-functional water ATMs, leaving residents with no choice but to resort to open defecation. From defunct public toilets to bone-dry water ATMs, citizens across Raipur are being forced back into unsafe, undignified habits. With no alternative arrangements in place, open defecation is once again a grim reality-even as the administration continues to project digital sanitation models as urban success stories.

 

The issue gained urgency after the Municipal Corporation blacklisted its key smart toilet contractor, Graceful India Pvt Ltd, earlier this year. The agency, which had bagged the maintenance contract under a revenue-sharing model, defaulted on over Rs 27 crore in dues-including unpaid electricity bills and bounced cheques. The civic body subsequently revoked the contract, seized unipole assets, and shut down operations of all associated smart toilet units. The fallout was immediate-and poorly managed. Vital public amenities vanished overnight with no substitute in place. Toilets that once offered privacy and safety-especially for women, the elderly, and persons with disabilities-are now bolted. In several areas, locals have been forced to use open spaces behind the very toilets that were meant to serve them. At Shastri Market vegetable complex, a critical footfall hub with over 10,000 visitors daily, a major smart toilet has been locked for two months.

 

“The power bill alone crossed Rs 53,000. Now the place stinks. People use the open drains again,” said a local vendor. Across town, near Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, students, autorickshaw drivers, and pedestrians find themselves stranded. The once-functional smart toilet is now defunct, rusting under a peeling Smart City label.

 

 

Lakshmikant Dubey, a civil contractor from Changorabhata, noted the sheer lack of civic foresight.

 

“They shut everything down but made no backup. Pachpedi Naka is a major junction, and there’s not even one working toilet. How is this Swachh Bharat?”

 

 

Mayank Rathore, a vendor from Bairan Bazaar, added, “Sanitation isn’t luxury-it’s a right. These facilities should be free. The corporation must ensure water and waste services across public nodes.”

 

 

Sushmita Umre, a PSC aspirant from Deendayal Nagar, added, “That toilet across Ravishankar University has been shut for months. Hundreds of students and commuters depend on it. How can we talk about digital India if we can’t ensure working toilets?”

 

Rupali Sahu, an MBA student, stressed that infrastructure without maintenance is pointless. “Water ATMs, RO units, smart toilets-all good ideas. But where’s the accountability? We’ve had inaugurations, not service.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pushing back, Nitin Bhansali, CPCC Spokesperson and social worker, criticised what he called governance paralysis. “The larger issue isn’t locked toilets, it’s civic regression. Even as the administration rolls out new awareness drives against open defecation, its own infrastructure tells another story. Toilets locked. Water ATMs dry. Swachh Bharat’s credibility is on the line, not in policy papers, but in daily public experience.”