Centre, DMRC asked to respond on water, toilet facilities plea: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has directed Centre, state governments and the Delhi Railway Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for responding to an appeal for provision of drinking water and toilet facilities at metro stations.

Notices has been issued by a bench of justices Deepak Verma and Ibrahim Kalifullah on a petition by Satish Kumar Sharma, an advocate via his counsel Atulesh Kumar against the directive of Delhi High Court order, which rejected the plea.

The SC also stated that the matter be tagged with another petition which was filed by an NGO that complained absence of different basic amenities in the metro service.

The petitioner submitted that since water and toilets are available at all airports and railway stations, those travelling by metro cannot be deprived of similar facilities and claimed that lack of such utilities put the commuters to various health risks.

According to the petition, “Delhi Metro has not provided the most important facilities of drinking water and toilets on metro stations platforms and it is causing a lot of inconvenience to the public at large, particularly the children, women, old and aged persons and the physically challenged commuters.”