CST

Meenakshi temple

BMC

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan

Madurai

Taj Mahal

Tirupati Temple

Golden Temple

Ajmer Sharif Dargah

loses toas Centre’s ‘Swachh Iconic Place’; most of the action planhad submitted last year at the time of its nomination remains on paper.Clearly it takes more than just adding a Maharaj in the name to make(CST) sparkle. The heritage railway station, which was included in a list of 10 iconic locations for thein June last year, has not only been beaten by the Meenakshi Temple inas the ‘Swachh Iconic Place’ but it has also failed to bring most of its plan of action to fruition.Last year, the Centre had announced a major cleanliness drive at 145 spiritual and heritage places across nine states, which would start at the 10 iconic locations, one of which was CST. The BMC had claimed that in a matter of days, CST would be turned into the cleanest railway station in the city, and the lanes around the iconic station would be free of hawkers, with the Central Railway (CR) and the BMC launching a massive clean-up drive. The joint initiative included cleaning the CST three times a day. But a year and a half later, most of the BMC’s plans failed to take off. Last month, the Centre decided that Meenakshi Temple, which is maintained by the Madurai City Corporation, deserves the top spot. The other places in the fray were Vaisno Devi temple in Jammu and Kashmir, thein Agra, thein Kerala, thein Amritsar, the, the Jagannath Temple in Puri, the Kamakshya Temple in Assam and the Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi.The Madurai City Corporation officials said that the temple project focusses on cleaning the periphery of the temple. The civic body has placed several bins at a distance of 50 metres along the streets. A total of 63 compact bins (for biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste) have been placed and four compactor trucks do the rounds of the temple premises regularly. There are 25 e-toilets and 15 water ATMs for visitors. There are two road sweepers and battery operated vehicles specifically purchased to clean this stretch.These plans were similar to those laid out by the BMC for the CST precinct but the BMC’s plans remained on paper. To begin with, all hawkers operating within 150 metres of the station were to be evicted. But none have been removed so far. The action plan that BMC had submitted to the Centre had mentioned that the orientation of Bhatia garden, opposite the station, would be changed to ease passenger flow. Bus stops near the station were to be given a heritage look. None of this has happened. Its plan to install heritage street lights on all roads around the station is also delayed.Among the things the BMC had listed under the cleanup plan, it has only managed to construct a new heritage gallery across the CST, which has now become a popular photography stop for tourists and locals alike. The BMC has also installed a new grill along the station periphery to stop hawkers from encroaching onto the station precinct. BMC officials said that currently, only Dadabhai Naoroji (DN) Road is being swept thrice a day, but not the other roads surrounding the station.The BMC was supposed to get Italian street lighting poles and lamps to light up the precinct. However, there has been a massive delay . The BMC began replacing the entrance domes of the CST subway with German glass, but that work too isn’t complete.When questioned about why most of the sprucing up plan remains on paper, Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, A ward, said, “All the works we planned are in process. There was a delay in getting all the work approved and tenders floated. We are installing imported glass from Germany on the subway domes. And there was a delay in importing the glass. We are also in the process of getting the heritage street light poles from Italy. So there was delay due to multiple reasons. Had we completed the work, CST would have bagged the top place.”Congress corporator Ravi Raja, who is the opposition leader in the BMC, tore into the BMC saying, “This is a big slap on the BMC’s face since they only make tall claims and no work is actually done on the ground. It’s a shame that the country’s richest municipal corporation can’t even clean up one iconic location in the heart of the city.”