• YS Chowdary

Indian Railways is not just a transport system but a mirror of our diverse and beautiful nation. Covering the length and breadth of our incredible India, the railways ferry crores of passengers daily in thousands of passenger trains. With such a massive movement of people being facilitated by the railways, it is only natural that special care must be taken to ensure the railway infrastructure and surroundings remain neat and clean round the clock.

The government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi has taken various dynamic steps to ensure that the hygiene and cleanliness of railways remain intact.

Sustainability is a topic that is extremely close to my heart and I have always insisted on sustainable development goals to be put at the top of the list for any public policy matter. This is why my heart swelled with immense pride when I saw that our government has successfully installed bio-toilets in 97% of trains across the Indian railway network. I must congratulate Minister of Railways Sri Piyush Goyal who through this astounding achievement has pushed the nation ahead in its quest for sustainable cleanliness.

Installation of bio-toilets has been done in 70,000 train coaches across the Indian Railways leaving out only 2,300 to be worked on. In the next three months, these remaining coaches will be equipped with bio-toilets completing a 100% cover.

Apart from this, the railways must also be commended for lighting up 472 stations across the nation with LEDs which in turn is helping in conserving a great amount of electricity. 14 stations have been green-certified which is another heartening sign for all. I’m sure that very soon more stations will be added to the list.

Indian Railways is one of busiest systems globally with crores of people either visiting the railway stations or travelling through our trains. Hence, it is extremely crucial for us to keep the premises at their cleanest. The steps taken by the government over the past few years have been an encouraging sign and definitely are an indicator of the success of ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan’