Within three months from October and December, the Railway managed to clear 30,000 cubic metres of garbage from over five locations – including tracks near Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), Masjid Bunder, Thane, Parsik tunnel area, and Dharavi.

Promotion

After rising complaints from citizens about mounds of garbage on railway tracks, the Central Railways (CR) has finally started clearing garbage lining the railway tracks.

Within three months from October and December, the Railway managed to clear 30,000 cubic metres of garbage from over five locations – including tracks near Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), Masjid Bunder, Thane, Parsik tunnel area, and Dharavi.

“Our plan is to collect 1,60,000 cubic metres of garbage in the next six months,” Chief Public Relations Officer of Central Railways, Sunil Udasi told the Hindustan Times.

30,000 cubic metres of garbage amounts to over 5 lakh garbage bags from these five locations. The Central Railways with the help of the Municipal Corporation will start transporting the garbage to city dumping grounds slowly.

“As per our internal discussions, we have decided to execute the collection block-by-block in a sequential manner. In the coming months, we will be moving northwards and focusing on sections between every station,” said Udasi.

This onground action of the Railways can be attributed to groups that began crusading against dirty tracks on Twitter back in February. Under this, ten spots with rising quantities of garbage were identified along the Western and Central line.

Read more: Railways Goes Eco-Friendly: LED Lighting at All Stations by 2018!

Promotion

While there has been no response from the Western Railway authorities, Central Railways has seen a significant change in the last three months. Udasi also added that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has also been taken on board by CR to pin down the source of this increasing garbage.

The Municipal Corporation’s solid waste management (SWM) department identified residential complexes and slums and trash carried by nullahs as the two main sources.

“The main issue is the domestic waste, and to control the issue, we have ensured that basic level of segregation is happening at all housing societies. Awareness drives have been conducted in slum areas along railway lines, and the number of dumper trucks has also been increased at these locations for faster collection,” a senior SWM official told HT.

While citizen groups are happy about their efforts bearing fruit in due time, they have emphasised a need for strict monitoring along these tracks. They have asked for provisions under which nullahs along the railway lines have trash collection and a removal system and strict rules, where societies and markets that dump garbage on the tracks to be penalised by either BMC or railways.

Feature Image Credit: (Bhushyan Koyande/HT) Hindustan Times

Like this story? Or have something to share?

Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com

Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!