In a startling incident in Uttar Pradesh, a toilet painted in saffron colour in the Maudaha village of the district was mistaken to be a temple by the residents. Ignorant of the reality, people worshiped the building and offered their prayers for over a year, assuming that an idol is present behind closed doors. 

A resident, Rakesh Chandel, told Gulf News,” The building located in the premises of the community health centre was painted saffron and shaped like a temple. People believed it to be a temple and no one bothered to clarify. It was only until recently that an official told us that it was actually a toilet.”

Chandel also stated the saffron colour painted on the building is the reason behind the confusion. “This public toilet was built by the Nagar Palika Parishad and the contractor had it painted saffron,” Ram Kishore, chairman of the Maudaha Nagar Panchayat, said. The colour of the building has now been changed to pink to avoid further slip-ups.

The toilet was constructed under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan more than a year ago. In many districts of Uttar Pradesh, public toilets have been built under the same campaign. This is not the only one which was painted in saffron.

A 2018 report by News 18 states that 100 out of 350 toilets in the Amritpur village of Etawah were painted in saffron. The villagers thought that saffron is CM Yogi Adityanath’s favourite colour and that painting the toilets with the same colour  could result in more development in the area.

The toilet in Maudaha was locked up for over a year, and despite being repainted in a different colour now, it is still not open for public use.

Also Read: 29% Of The Toilets Built Under Swachh Bharat Do Not Exist, While 36% Unusable: Survey