NEW DELHI, June 5: Indian Railways is committed to providing world class facilities to its passengers through one of the best railways network in the world offering a clean environment and smooth travel experience to its passengers under the Swachh Bharat, Swachh Railways initiative.
As a result of these efforts, the Ministry of Railways has been adjudged as the best effort by a Ministry for implementation of ‘Swachhta Action Plan’, and was awarded by President of India on September 6, 2019.
Since the 150th Gandhi Jayanti on October 2, 2019, no single use plastic material is permitted and 200 railway stations have certified for implementation of Environment Management System to ISO: 14001 in 2019-20.
As part of this, it has installed 49,487 bio-toilets in 14,916 coaches during 2019-20 taking the cumulative number of bio-toilets to more than 2,45,400 fitted in 68,800 coaches with a coverage of 100 per cent.
Integrated mechanised cleaning is now provided at 953 stations. Independent third party survey of passenger perception on cleanliness standards was carried out at 720 Stations in 2019-20 against 407 stations, an official release here said.
More than 1,100 pairs of trains including Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto and other important long distance trains are having facility of On Board House Keeping Service (OBHS) for cleaning of coach toilets, doorways, aisles and passenger compartments during the run of the trains. The OBHS service is supported by SMS based on demand “Coach-Mitra” service to cover more than 1,060 pairs of trains.
Mechanised laundries are being set up for improving quality of washing of linen provided to AC coach passengers. Eight mechanised laundries were installed in FY 2019-20, taking the total to 68.
As an initiative to reduce, recycle and dispose plastic waste generated in stations in an eco-friendly manner, comprehensive policy guidelines have been brought out for installation of Plastic Bottle Crushing Machines (PBCMs) by Zonal Railways. At present, around 315 PBCMs have been installed at 229 stations including several district headquarters railway stations over Indian Railways.
In addition, Automatic Coach Washing Plants (ACWP) have been installed in eight locations in 2019-20 taking the total to 20.
Also, quick watering facility at 29 locations have been installed in 2019 -20 (cumulative 44) to reduce water filling time at stations, the release added.
(UNI)
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