Flyers raise a stink over dirty Kolkata airport washrooms

KOLKATA: The washrooms at Kolkata airport are back in focus again with several passengers sharing the photographs of dirty toilets on social media and pleading the authorities to take an immediate action. This comes at a time when the airport is clocking 55,000 plus footfalls of domestic and international flyers every day during the summer vacation.
During May this year, the airport had registered the footfalls of 14.8 lakh passengers taking 9,661 domestic flights and 2.1 lakh passengers travelling in 1,519 international flights. The passenger count is almost at par with that in 2019.
"What's this condition of ladies toilets? Worse than trains? Shame on the contractor who is handling cleaning at Kolkata airport. I have a long layover and the toilets are very dirty. I feel we deserve better," a flyer from Pune wrote on Twitter last week.
Another passenger tweeted two weeks ago: "Horrible men's toilet in international departure. Water flowing on floor, garbage bin not cleared and tissue papers overflowing on floor. Shame on you Kolkata Airport."
TOI had written in February that the city airport authorities were in the process of refurbishing the washrooms in the arrival and departure terminals. The authorities had already terminated the contract of a housekeeping agency hired to clean the toilets in the arrival terminal and deployed a new one. A senior official said the process of refurbishing old washrooms with new sanitaryware, fixtures and wall and floor tiles was still continuing. "Some of the washrooms have already had a new look. But a complete overhaul is still in process," the official added.
Meanwhile, complaints continued to pour in as some passengers even tagged the civil aviation minister, demanding immediate redressal
"@MoCA_India Sir, it is pathetic to see very poorly maintained toilets at international arrival gates in Kolkata airport, with stained toilet pans, no paper napkins and no handwashing liquid!! Please introduce service rating based incentives/salary for staff to rectify," flyer Braja Mishra had tweeted last month.
Archita Chatterjee, another passenger, posted on the social media a series of photographs that showed dirty toilets, water spilling all over inside a ladies washroom, garbage dumped on the floor under the washbasin and an overflowing litter bin. "This is how Kolkata International Airport looks at 9:20 pm. No cleaning staff, no authority to check," she tweeted.