Will Swachh Railways clean up its tracks?

Mumbai: Union finance minister Arun Jaitley announced that Swachh Railways is the focus of the government this year. An SMS service ‘Clean my coach’ has been started, and passengers can also register all coach related complaints and requirements.

But even as the Government initiates the Swachh Railways campaign, a blame game has erupted between municipalities and Railway authorities over the garbage menace. With large stretches of tracks stinking due to garbage, Central Railways has blamed municipal corporations of Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan-Dombivali for the garbage menace.

D.K. Sharma, central railway’s general manager said, “The railway tracks are regularly cleaned up. But the garbage keeps on accumulating near the railway tracks because of the shanties built near it. The civic bodies have failed to act against these illegal shanties.”

While responding to the question on the issue of garbage menace and open defecation on the tracks, Mr Sharma said, “We have been trying to clean the tracks, but it’s a lost cause. Why is the same question not being asked to the civic bodies? We have finished the work from our end. Why is no one questioning the civic bodies for their inaction against the illegal slums built near the tracks?” However, General Manager of Western Railways, G.C. Agarwal, has claimed that he has received support from the BMC.