12 It will take, by the government's own admission, up to 2021-22 to replace all existing toilets on Indian trains. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said one of his priorities was to install 17,000 modern "bio-toilets", which use bacteria to convert excreta into gases--released into the atmosphere--and treated and chlorinated water. The biggest hygiene hurdle on the Indian Railways are the primitive toilets that discharge waste directly on to tracks, corroding them and stinking up stations and railways corridors. Cleanliness topped Prabhu's
11 priorities, as he announced the “Swacch Rail Swacch Bharat” (Clean Rail, Clean India) programme. Prabhu said the railways have already replaced 17,388 existing toilets with bio-toilets over the last three years, spending more than Rs 101 crore. It could cost Rs 3,702 crore ($600 million) to entirely replace the primitive toilets on India's trains, a high-level safety review committee had
estimated in 2012. A total of 12,617 trains run on Indian tracks every day, carrying more than 23 million passengers in 63,870 coaches (these might also include suburban rail coaches). The Indian Railways has also allowed 100% foreign investment in installation of bio-toilets. Let us look at the funds spent on installation of bio-toilets:
Funds Spent by Indian Railways For Setting Up Bio-toilets, 2011-12 to 2013-14
S. No. Zonal Railway/ Production Units/Public Sector Undertakings Funds spent during last three years (2011-12 to 2013-14) Funds allocated/Estimated expenditure forcurrent year(2014-15)
1 CENTRAL 1.0064 2
2 EAST COAST 0.2015 2
3 EAST CENTRAL 0 1
4 EASTERN 4.21 2.5
5 NORTH CENTRAL 0.5499 1
6 NORTH EASTERN 1.76 2
7 NORTHEAST FRONTIER 0.6695 1.5
8 NORTHERN 0.3036 2.5
9 NORTH WESTERN 0.7112 3.5
10 SOUTH CENTRAL 1.811 3.5
11 SOUTH EAST CENTRAL 6.334 6
12 SOUTH EASTERN 0.6495 2
13 SOUTHERN 0.9806 3
14 SOUTH WESTERN 0.0312 2
15 WEST CENTRAL 2.9238 2
16 WESTERN 3.3539 3.5
17 KOLKATA METRO 0 0
18 RAIL COACH FACTORY 28.0724 20
19 INTEGRAL COACH FACTORY 30.1035 27.2
20 BHARAT EARTH MOVERS LTD 17.7662 4.57
Total 101.4382 91.77
Source: LokSabha; Figures in Rs Crore The state-owned Integral Coach Factory has spent more than Rs. 30 crore to install bio-toilets. The South East Central railway zone has spent more money (Rs. 6.3 crore) than any other in installing bio-toilets.

Chaitanya Mallapur