17 December,2010 06:39 AM IST | | Vedika Chaubey
Sweeping contracts of six major stations have not been renewed, after they ended earlier this month
You should get ready to see filthy platforms on the six major Central Railway (CR) stations for at least another two months.
The contracts for sweeping on stations like Dadar, Byculla, Kurla, Thane, Kalyan and Dombivli expired on December 3, but have not been renewed or given to any other contractor as yet.
It might take another three months for the officials to appoint a contractor to clean up the railway stations
Jitendra Gupta, a member of the Citizen Transport Committee, along with a few other members of the committee visited the CR headquarters to complain but did not get any convincing reply from the authorities.
"I usually go to Kurla station and it has become worse since a week.
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The platforms are covered with filth.
Not just the platforms, the staircase and corners of the station are also full of dirt and rubbish," said Gupta, adding that the CR should answer their queries about the delay in floating
tenders.
"There is corruption in the system and the railway is ignoring it. Why the authorities kept waiting for the last date of the tender is not clear."
According to railway officials, they have already floated tenders for Dadar, Kalyan, Kurla and Thane but tenders for Dombivli and Byculla stations will be floated soon.
CR said that they have not got any complaints from passengers regarding the cleanliness of railway stations on their passenger SMS feedback number.
"After a tender is floated, it takes a minimum of two to three months to find a contractor but at times, it may even take six months. It is an error on the part of the railways," said a CR official.
"We have been getting complaints from several associations and passengers regarding filthy stations. We will sort out the issue at the earliest," the official assured.
The Other Side
"Our stations are not dirty. We are cleaning them on a day-to-day basis with the help of our mobile gang (see box)," said Central Railway Chief PRO V A Malegaonkar.
"Also, the station master of every station has been given the instructions to hire people for keeping the station clean.
The amount can later be reimbursed by the railways." Malegaonkar informed that station masters have a permission to spend Rs 25,000 for cleaning railway station premises and can have it reimbursed.
Mobile Gang
A mobile gang is a group of eight to 10 people that are called in for sweeping and cleaning by the railways. They are railway employees and are paid a monthly salary.
If the need arises, the railway officials concerned instruct them to go to a particular railway station and clean it.
