A Room With A Loo: Meet The Men Who Live, Sleep and Eat in A Toilet

Following a spate of vandalism and thefts from Delhi's public lavatories, the city authorities took the decision to employ staff to guard the facilities and keep them clean. 

Premraj Das, 40, who supports his family on his £70 monthly wage, spends his days in his toilet, where he prepares, cooks and eats his food.

He said: "I don’t feel any discomfort living inside the toilet as it has become a habit now. It’s like my home.

"I feel sad only when I close the toilet at 9pm in the evening and I am all alone for the entire night and I don’t get to speak to anyone.”

Das hails from the northeast of India and formerly worked as a laborer in Punjab and at a local market in Allahabad, as well as on a farm in his home village. 

But three and a half years ago he moved to Delhi in search of a better life for himself and his family.

And despite the stigma attaching to cleaning toilets, he says he feels no shame at what he does. 

He said: "This is a dirty job but it’s regular and fetches me a monthly income. I wouldn’t get a permanent job anywhere else that pays this much.

"My family know that I have to work to earn a living for them and me. I have kids who are still too young to understand what their father does.

“I am going to work here for as long as I can because I don’t have many options. Everyone dreams of a luxurious life but how many can afford it?”

Das's work begins each day at 6am, and rather than commuting home at the end of each shift, Premraj also lives in the toilet to save money on rent.

"After the toilet is closed for the day, I cook food here and after having food I clean up the place and sleep," he said. 

“People sleep everywhere and anywhere in this country. I sleep here in the toilet - where else can I sleep with the money I earn in a month? 

"I earn 6000 rupees and the rent of a single room is 3000 rupees, which I can’t even think of in my dreams. Hence, I clean this place and sleep here.”

The father-of-three regularly sends money back home - and he says when he is not cleaning, he spends his day talking with the people who come to use the toilets. 

And Das never forgets to offer tea and food to anyone who sees him in his toilet-home during the lunch or dinner hour.

He said: "This job means that I get to meet new people every day and talk to them, hence I never feel disgusted by this job of mine.

"I like my job because I get to meet up to 400 people daily.

"People love me, be it the policemen or the lawyers.  And that is why I have been able to survive here for the past three years."