{"id":108426,"date":"2018-01-07T01:38:15","date_gmt":"2018-01-06T20:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org\/?p=108426"},"modified":"2018-01-07T01:38:15","modified_gmt":"2018-01-06T20:08:15","slug":"cows-rescue-3350-truckloads-dung-will-save-railways-face-business-standard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=108426","title":{"rendered":"Cows to the rescue: How 3,350 truckloads of dung will save Railways’ face | Business Standard"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Indian\u00a0Railways\u00a0<\/a>need to buy 3,350 truckloads of\u00a0cow dung\u00a0<\/a>at Rs 42 crore in 2018 to \u201crecharge\u201d\u2013add\u00a0bacteria\u00a0<\/a>to activate degradation\u2013leaky, malfunctioning \u2018bio-toilets\u2019 that it has fitted on 44.8% of trains and hopes to expand to all trains by 2018, according to\u00a0IndiaSpend\u00a0<\/strong>projections of data released by the national auditor to Parliament.<\/p>\n

Bio-toilets are small-scale sewage-treatment systems beneath the toilet seat:\u00a0Bacteria\u00a0<\/a>in a compost chamber digest human excreta, leaving behind water and methane. That\u2019s how they were supposed to work.<\/p>\n

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The Comptroller and Auditor General\u2019s (CAG) report on these bio-toilets echoes the findings of our November 2017\u00a0investigation<\/a>\u00a0into their widespread malfunctioning: The CAG found 199,689 defects in 25,000 toilets.<\/p>\n

Responding to the CAG findings, the railway ministry said its criticism was \u201cnot correct\u201d and that \u201csome problems of choking were occurring on account of misuse of toilets by passengers\u201d. An official note from December 20, 2017, said: \u201cThese issues are being dealt with promptly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy November 2011, the performance issues of each design of bio-toilets were clearly showing up,\u201d the note said. \u201cTherefore, the ministry did not wait until the end of the trial period to make the decision (to order the procurement of bio-toilets from private manufacturers).\u201d<\/p>\n

Our November 2017 story quoted studies from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and IIT Kanpur that said the bio-toilets were no better than \u201cseptic tanks\u201d and the water they let out no better than \u201craw sewage\u201d.<\/p>\n

Each bio-toilet requires 60 litres\u2013or three large bucketfuls\u2013of inoculum, a mix of\u00a0cow dung\u00a0<\/a>and water, according to the December 19, 2017, CAG\u00a0report<\/a>. This inoculum begins the process of breaking down 3,980 tons of human excreta that is released untreated by trains on rail tracks nationwide every day.<\/p>\n

The bio-toilets originally used a bacterium found in Antarctica by a defence scientist, who cultured it in 2005 and 10 years later, got a patent on its use. Over seven years to 2017, 97,761 such toilets were fitted in new coaches or retrofitted in existing Indian trains.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0railways\u00a0<\/a>went ahead with the toilet installation even though the flaw in the basic model designed by the\u00a0Defence Research and Development Organisation\u00a0<\/a>(DRDO) had been pointed out by an expert panel in 2007. In an interview (to be published tomorrow), Vinod Tare, an IIT professor of environmental engineering, who headed this panel, told us that these bio-toilets had been found ineffective at two venues: Kumbh Mela, the massive gathering of Hindu pilgrims held every 12 years at a river bank, and the army base-camp at Siachen glacier.<\/p>\n

The panel\u2019s two-year study was completed in November 2017 by IIT Madras, as\u00a0IndiaSpend<\/strong>reported<\/a>\u00a0on November 23, 2017.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0railways\u00a0<\/a>sent a rejoinder to our story\u2013you can read it\u00a0here<\/a>\u2013and soon after\u00a0announced\u00a0<\/a>they were exploring airplane-style vacuum toilets.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0railways\u00a0<\/a>bought 3,600 litres of inoculum for Rs 68,400 in May 2016, said the CAG report. Based on this cost, we estimate that to recharge the 97,761 bio-toilets currently in use, the\u00a0railways\u00a0<\/a>will need 23.46 million litres\u2013or 3,350 truckloads\u2013of\u00a0cow dung.<\/a><\/p>\n

With the\u00a0railways\u00a0<\/a>failing to produce enough bacteria, the\u00a0cow dung\u00a0<\/a>will be sourced from private sector at Rs 19 per litre. The\u00a0railways\u00a0<\/a>have a workshop\u2013with an installed capacity to generate 30,000 litres of\u00a0bacteria\u00a0<\/a>each month\u2013in Nagpur, but no action has been taken on a 2011 proposal to set up two more facilities, at Kapurthala and Perambur.<\/p>\n

No clarity on funds or manpower for bio-toilet project<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is no clarity on two other critical issues relating to bio-toilets on trains: The infrastructure costs involved in installation, including procurement and installation of evacuation machines and hydraulic lifts, and anticipated expenses on training and deployment of manpower.<\/p>\n

Further, if all 54,506 rail coaches are to be fitted with vacuum toilets atop the bio-toilets being installed\u2013as is being planned\u2013there will be an additional cost of Rs 10,900 crore. The current market price of a vacuum toilet unit is approximately Rs 200,000.<\/p>\n

The additional expense might have been worth it if the bio-toilet scheme, 24 years in the making, had been efficient. But the CAG has amplified concerns about its performance and has endorsed the findings of the\u00a0IndiaSpend<\/strong>\u00a0investigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The flaws in bio-toilets, according to the CAG<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an evaluation of 25,000 toilets for the period under review (2016-17), the CAG detected 199,689 defects and deficiencies. Here are some major issues, according to the report:<\/p>\n