Regular intensive campaigns/drives have been organised over the Indian Railways with the sole objective towards significant and sustainable improvements in cleanliness standards of Trains and Railway premises, including Railway stations. Some of the major initiatives taken by Indian Railways towards improvement of sanitation/cleanliness are as follows:
(i) Pace of fitment of bio-toilets in coaches has been increased. More than 25000 bio-toilets were fitted in the last two years and target for this year is 30,000. Fitment of Bio-toilets in coaches will prevent discharge of human waste during train journeys directly onto the track.
(ii) The facility of On-Board Cleaning has been extended to more than 800 trains which is being monitored through a closed loop ‘APP’ based passenger feedback system.
(iii) Railways is resorting to SMS-based, web-based and APP-based complaint redressal system. Daily IVRS-based passenger feedback is randomly being taken from about 1 lakh passengers.
(iv) To assess the impact of cleanliness efforts at major stations, a third party survey on cleanliness indicators has been done at 407 stations in 2016 involving feedback from 1.3 lac passengers.
(v) Additional toilets at Railway Stations, including Pay & Use toilets, have been provided.
(vi) Enforcement of Indian Railways (Penalties for activities affecting cleanliness at railway premises) Rules, 2012 has been intensified.
(vii) Use of CCTVs extended for monitoring of cleanliness activities at major stations.
(viii) Weekly intensive cleanliness drives have been undertaken at various Railway stations, by Zonal Railways.
(ix) Various theme-based drives have been undertaken from time to time with focus on cleanliness in different areas of Railways.
The regular cleanliness of inner and outer premises including platforms of the Railway Stations and the trains is being maintained utilising Departmental staff, contractual manpower and mechanised cleaning wherever available. Departmental staff are paid monthly wages as per Railway pay scales and contractual staff are paid as per applicable provisions of the Minimum Wages Act.
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