South Central Railway cleans 5,500 km of track, mops up 29,246 tonnes of waste

South Central Railway has claimed to have cleaned 5,500 km of track, collected 29,246 tonnes of waste material including plastic amounting to 27,052 tonnes, workshop scrap of 581 tonnes, and other material of upto 443 tonnes during its fortnight-long cleanliness drive taken up from October 1 to 15 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission.

While the drive was taken up across all railway zones in the country, top officials here said that the mop-up exercise covered 704 stations and workshops and about 244 running trains were inspected during the period. Around 291 persons were fined for littering and ₹58,200 was collected in fines with as many as 38,255 personnel involved in the ‘Shramdan’.

Overall, Indian Railways said more than 20,000 km of track, over 7,000 stations, about 2,700 stations and 18,331 officers were cleaned with 5,400 tonnes of scrap collected. The special drive taken up under the direction of Railway Board CEO Satish Kumar at the Centre and General Manager Arun Kumar Jain here began with an oathtaking pledge to officials at all levels.

The ‘Swachhta Pakhwada’ also saw the railway officials planting 73,856 trees within SCR (2.63 lakh nationwide) and cleanup of drains to the tune of 595 km (11,756 km nationwide). Officials also feedback from close to 4,000 passengers during the drive which was marked with street plays, awareness campaigns and rallies.

“The programme was taken up to highlight cleanliness, waste management and environment conservation throughout the year. Emphasis was laid on time-bound transformation through cleanliness targets with preventive healthcare camps held for sanitation workers,” said chief public relations officer A. Sridhar.

The zone has 122 plastic bottle crushing machines at 76 major stations, 46 waste to compost plants at 45 stations. 35 napkin incinerators at 28 stations and segregation of waste for biodegradable and non-biodegradable at major stations. Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) have been set up at 16 major stations and 45 more plants are in the pipeline, he added.