Loo and behold, it’s Indian railways

Even as PM Narendra Modi envisions a ‘Bullet Train’ whizzingfrom Ahmedabad to Mumbai, Indian Railways is planning more down-to-earthly measures to aid its passengers. It is not only projecting the installation of 80,000 bio toilets in the next 12 months, but is also proposing to provide what are called ‘hygiene faucets’ in all on-board loos. Moreover, foreseeing that these items might get pilfered, leaving users of the facility literally high and dry, train toilets will continue to feature abackup mug, which will be secured by a chain to prevent theft.

The precaution is deemed necessary as lavatory mugs reportedly accounted for a sizeable amount of the Rs 2.97 crore of stolen railway property — including ceiling fans, blankets, bed linen, shower heads and iron grilles — recovered by the Railway Protection Force last year. Indeed, the authorities might well turn an indulgent eye on the purloining of mugs and cleansing devices as being the unintended, but desirable, consequence of the sarkari objective of potty-training by providing toilets in every village household. While it remains to be seen if international rating agencies take the mug factor into account while ranking the country on the ease-of-doingbusiness scale, frequent derailments, accidents and chronic overcrowding could confirm the sceptic’s view that our trains give travellers what could truly be described as a bum deal.