Lok Sabha Question No. 91 (STARRED), answered on 2015-07-27
Subject: Littering in Railways
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: DHARMENDRA YADAV, HARISHCHANDRA DEORAM CHAVAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 91 TO BE ANSWERED ON 27.07.2015

## LITTERING  IN RAILWAYS

†*91. SHRI DHARMENDRA YADAV: SHRI HARISHCHANDRA CHAVAN:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (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?

## ANSWER

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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