Question : Littering in Railways

(a) whether the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has shown concern over failure of Railways in controlling littering on tracks and if so, the details thereof;

(b) the steps taken by the Railways including imposition of heavy penalty for spitting and littering on the railway tracks/ platforms specially around the cities;

(c) the number of persons penalised along with the fine collected from them during the last three years; and

(d) whether the Railways propose to ban use/sale of plastic items on railway platforms across the country and if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI SURESH PRABHAKAR PRABHU)

(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF STARRED QUESTION NO. 91 BY SHRI DHARMENDRA YADAV AND SHRI HARISHCHANDRA CHAVAN TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 27.07.2015 REGARDING LITTERING IN RAILWAYS.

(a) National Green Tribunal has made observations regarding littering on railway tracks and has ordered joint inspection by Railways and municipal corporations for placing dustbins at all the identified sites and to prepare guidelines for handling municipal solid waste arising in the railway area of stations and tracks.
• (b) Indian Railways accord a very high priority for ensuring cleanliness at stations. However, owing to the high density of usage of the stations and the trains, this is a very challenging area. Public awareness through regular announcements, posters, Electronic display boards, banners, stickers, CCTVs at stations, pamphlets, Electronic media and newspaper advertisements are made for education of the rail users to ensure a satisfactory level of cleanliness at railway stations .
Keeping in view the expectations of the passengers and to meet the challenge, Indian Railways has adopted measures which include introduction of mechanized cleaning process, award of rag picking/garbage disposal contracts, introduction of ‘pay & use’ toilet scheme, etc. Inspections by various officials at the railway stations are also conducted to monitor cleanliness and take remedial measures. Rules have been notified to penalize persons affecting cleanliness and hygiene at railway premises. Instructions have been issued to Zonal Railways to use Close Circuit Televisions (CCTVs) to monitor cleanliness at railway premises. Service Improvement Groups(SIGs) at the zonal/divisional headquarters and station levels have been activated to inspect amenities including cleanliness at stations and to take remedial measures, if required. These measures are reviewed on a monthly basis by Additional General Managers(AGMs) at zonal
level and by Additional Divisional Railway Managers(ADRMs) at divisional level.
(c) The total number of persons penalized and amount collected as penalty for littering at railway premises during the last three years i.e., 2013, 2014 & 2015 (till June 30) are as under:
Railways No. of persons Amount collected in
(Rupees)
Central Railway 47703 5514335
Eastern Railway 59753 6245504
East Central Railway 23976 4584926
East Coast Railway 63748 4872573
Northern Railway 367311 9870055
North Central Railway 41989 4136364
North Eastern Railway 9830 1858687
Northeast Frontier Railway 30307 3168592
North Western Railway 107575 10685558
Southern Railway 6886 1477300
South Central Railway 129918 26078530
South Eastern Railway 50692 3933940
South East Central Railway 64899 4815949
South Western Railway 14053 1728500
Western Railway 60568 4406420
West Central Railway 18899 2106800
Total 1098107 95484033

(d) Instructions already exist to zonal railways regarding use of eco-friendly and bio-degradable packaging materials for supply of food items in trains and static catering units. It has, inter-alia, been advised that instead of plastic, better quality paper bio-degradable glass need to be used for serving tea/coffee/soup/curd etc. The packaging material should be food grade preferably bio-degradable material and the manufacturing companies should conform to be ISO specification.
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