Minister of Railways released Third Party Audit Report on Station Cleanliness and Inaugurated Swachh Rail Portal.
Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Beas in Punjab is the Cleanest Station in A1, A Category Stations Respectively.
Khammam station Comes 2nd Rank in Station Cleanliness in A Category from 285 Rank previous Year.
Indian Railways started third party Cleanliness Index of Stations since last year. Railways have accomplished a significant improvement in cleanliness at station. This index instills competitive spirit among the stations.
The biggest challenge for cleanliness at the platforms is visitors along with the passengers, even the toilets are used by large number of visitors who are not Railway travellers. However, Railways have to move forward.
The focus is on Platform cleanliness, coach cleanliness, toilets cleanliness in the coach & track cleanliness. Railways have introduced Clean My Coach services which is getting overwhelming response of the passengers, Four green corridors have been marked which are free from discharge of human waste.
Vishakhapatnam has emerged as the winner in Cleanliness Index by securing Ist position in A1 category.
Beas in Punjab has emerged as Ist winner in A category station.
Guwahati, Varanasi, Mughalsarai & Hazrat Nizamuddin Station have shown tremendous improvements.
|
Rank |
A1 Category Station (Out of 75) |
A Category Station (Out of 332) |
Railway Zone (Out of 16) |
|
1 |
Vishakhapatnam, East Coast Railway, Andhra Pradesh |
Beas, Northern Railway, Punjab |
South East Central Railway |
|
2 |
Secunderabad, South Central Railway, Telangana |
Khammam, South-Central Railway, Telangana |
East Coast Railway |
|
3 |
Jammu Tawi, Northern Railway, Jammu Kashmir |
Ahmednagar, Central Railway, Maharashtra |
Central Railway |
|
4 |
Vijayawada, South Central Railway, Andhra Pradesh |
Durgapur, Eastern Railway, West Bengal |
South Central Railway |
|
5 |
Anand Vihar Terminal, Northern Railway, Delhi |
Mancherial, South Central Railway, Telangana |
Western Railway |
|
6 |
Lucknow, Northern Railway, Uttar Pradesh |
Badnera,Central Railway, Maharashtra |
South Western Railway |
|
7 |
Ahmedabad, Western Railway, Gujarat |
Rang iya Junction, North Frontier Railway, Assam |
North Eastern Railway |
|
8 |
Jaipur, North Western Railway, Rajasthan |
Warangal, South Central Railway, Telangana |
North Western Railway |
|
9 |
Pune, Central Railway, Maharashtra |
Damoh,West Central Railway. Madhya Pradesh |
Southern Railway |
|
10 |
Bangalore City, South Western Railway, Karnataka |
Bhuj, Western Railway, Gujarat |
North Frontier Railway |
Background:
Indian Railways is the third largest rail network with 66,000 route kilometre stretch covering more than 8000 stations. Consequent to the launch of ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ on 2nd Oct’2014 by PM Modi, Indian Railways had also launched ‘Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ to achieve the vision of ‘Clean India’ by 2nd Oct’ 2019, which shall be the 150th Birthday of father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi.
In the Rail Budget presented in Feb’2015, 2016 and 2017, series of measures to improve the cleanliness of stations were announced to take forward the momentum of ‘Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat’.
One of the measures given in Feb’2016 Budget is ranking of A1 and A category stations based on regular periodic third party audit and feedback from passengers, with a view to identify unclean spots/gaps and to improve cleanliness standards and also to propel healthy competition among railway stations.
Ministry of Railway (Environment and Housekeeping Management Directorate, Railway Board) commissioned a passenger feedback survey on cleanliness at major railway stations. The task of survey was entrusted to Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).
First survey conducted by IRCTC in 2016 by conducting interviews of passengers at the stations on various parameters of cleanliness and rating them on these basis. The second survey has been conducted by Quality Council of India (QCI) who with the help of their partners have conducted the survey of 407 major railway stations (75 A1 category and 332 A category stations) of Indian Railways.
