india

Updated: Oct 02, 2019 19:48 IST

Jaipur boasts of the cleanest railway station in India and ranks at the top of the cleanliness survey of railway stations in the country, according to the ‘Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat 2019’ report released on Wednesday.

Jodhpur and Durgapura (Jaipur) railway stations are also in the top 5 clean railway stations in the country, the report said.

The North Western Railway (NWR), headquartered in Jaipur, has been ranked the best among the 17 railway zones in the country. NWR, which was the best zone in 2018, got 848.7 points out of 1,000 to stay on the first position. The railway zone got seven of its stations in the top 10 rankers; the others being Durgapura (3rd), Gandhinagar (5th), Suratgarh (6th), Udaipur City (8th) and Ajmer (9th).

The cleanliness survey is an annual exercise carried out by Quality Council of India (QCI), an independent body.

According to the report, there are 8,000 railway stations in India controlled by 17 zones. They are categorised as non-suburban group (NSG), suburban group (SG) and halts, on the basis of revenue and footfall.

For the 2019 survey, 720 NSG and SG stations were considered, the report said. The railway stations have been ranked under NSG and SG categories.

Jaipur ranked first with the overall cleanliness score of 931.75; Jodhpur got the second rank with the score of 927.19 and Durgapura scored 922.50 out of 1,000.

The QCI evaluates railway stations on three broad parameters — process evaluation, direct observation and citizen feedback. The first part of the study involves assessment of processes related to cleanliness at the stations. “QCI assessors observed the frequency of various cleaning activities in the main consumer interface areas. Process evaluation also involved the assessors observing the condition of the uniform, protective gear and equipment used by the cleaning staff,” the report said.

In the second part, the direct observation, QCI assessors inspected the station premises for cleanliness and presence of different forms of wastes, such as litter, excreta, stain and stagnant water.

The third and final part is citizen feedback in which feedback from the passengers about cleanliness at the station is taken. “The passengers were asked questions related to the level of cleanliness in the most common consumer interface areas of the station in terms of litter, stagnant water, presence of pests etc. Finally, they were asked to rate their overall experience based on the cleanliness and upkeep of stations,” the report said.

NWR general manager Anand Prakash expressed happiness on the report released on the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. He expressed his gratitude to railway workers and rail users for their combined efforts for this achievement.

“This day also marks the culmination of fortnight-long Swacchta Pakhwara organised across India (including NWR) by Indian Railways to observe cleanliness at stations, discourage use of single-use plastic and mobilise community support for the mission to clean Indian Railways,” he said.