Gowda to lead railways cleanliness drive on 2 October

New Delhi: Gearing up to be part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachchh Bharat Mission, railways have identified 119 stations to be spruced up by its specially designated staff across the country on 2 October. While Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda will lead from the front by himself picking up the broom during the drive in what could be termed as one of its kind massive cleanliness campaign, all Railway Board members and senior officials including Chairman Railway Board Arunendra Kumar will join the “shramdaan” (voluntary labour) on Gandhi Jayanti Day at different stations across the country.[caption id=“attachment_1702355” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda. Agencies[/caption] The cleanliness campaign will be kicked off at around 8 am and will be carried out at stations, trains, track, offices, workshops, colonies involving railway officers and staff, said a senior railway ministry official. According to the instructions given to all railway zones and divisions, the ministry has sought involvement of all the railwaymen in the cleanliness campaign. The services of NGOs, NCC, schools, scouts and guides have also been roped in to make the campaign a success story, he said. Cleanliness is a major issue for railways as majority of the complaints are either related to unclean coaches and platforms or catering service. “We have received a large number of complaints on cleanliness issues at stations and in trains. A series of steps have been taken to improve cleanliness and we have earmarked 40 percent more fund allocations than the last year for this,” he said. Ahead of Gandhi Jayanti, the ministry will also launch an awareness campaign to keep rail premises clean. However, the official said the drive will focus more on “shramdaan” rather than just awareness campaign and all senior officers of the Board have been assigned various zones and divisions for participation and monitoring the campaign. Railways is also planning to create a separate department for stations level to Board level to keep up the cleanliness drive as multiple agencies are involved in it. PTI