CHENNAI: The temple town of Kumbakonam, with an all-India ranking of 5, has emerged as the cleanest railway station in the State, followed by Salem (AIR 9). This key finding has emerged from the recently published final report of the ‘Survey of Major Railway Stations for Cleanliness Ranking’, commissioned by the Ministry of Railways.
A preliminary report of the survey, covering 407 stations across the country, was released in March earlier this year, but now it has been finalised and uploaded on the Indian railways website.
More significantly, the Southern Railway zone has been ranked as the third best performing zone in the country in terms of ensuring cleanliness in railway stations. With as much as 46 per cent of stations classified under level 1 and level 2 (top performing stations), Southern Railways, headquartered in Chennai, occupied the third position in the zonal rankings. In total, there are 16 railway zones in the country.
Fifty railway stations were surveyed in the Southern Railway, out of which Kumbakonam (5) and Salem (9) figure in the top 10 list of the country. More significantly, three of the divisions falling under Southern Railways, namely Salem, Tiruchirapalli and Madurai are among the top 15 divisions based on the percentage of level 1 and 2 stations. Salem also figures in the top 10 divisional headquarters’ list, based on cleanliness scores.
Speaking to Express, Sundara Vimalnathan of Swamimalai and a member of the Divisional Railway User Consultation Committee (DRUCC) said though Kumbakonam station was well maintained, the work of conservancy workers employed by the private agency should be thoroughly monitored by the railway officials.
Officials in the Southern Railway say a new wing, Environment and Housekeeping Management, functioning under the mechanical department, has been formed to exclusively monitor the environment in stations and trains. The annual performance report of the organisation specified that the wing is currently functioning in the headquarters and the Chennai division. Jolarpettai station has already been taken over by this wing, with more stations in the Chennai division slated to come under it soon. Among the other green initiatives in the zone is the commissioning of the country’s first ever green corridor between Manamadurai and Rameswaram (113 km), with all trains plying in that stretch fitted with bio-toilets thereby ensuring there is no discharge of human waste on the tracks.