Mysuru not figuring in clean railway station list surprises many

MYSURU: Mysuru railway station not figuring in the list of the cleanest railway stations in the country, released by Union Minister Suresh Prabhu recently, has left railway authorities, elected representatives and citizens deeply disappointed. They sought to dismiss the survey conducted by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Company (IRCTC), saying that it is not comprehensive and failed to take into consideration the

ground realities. Sources in the South Western Railway (SWR) said the survey which was carried out based on passengers feedback, does not reflect the reality and hence they have chose not to take it seriously. There is no doubt that Mysuru railway station is one of the cleanest railway stations in the country and it must have figured in at least top 5 among the 332 ‘A’ category stations. Nobody will believe the survey, they said.

Shocked by the survey report, the top railway officials in Mysuru have deemed it not worthy to deliberate on it as it will only demoralise the staff especially those on the ground who have been strived hard to keep the station spic and span.

An officer who has seen Vadodara and Vasco-Da-Gama stations that have got top rankings in the survey, said compared to Mysuru station they are far behind in cleanliness. “The whole survey exercise appears to be flawed,” he quipped.

For the citizens, the survey has come as a rude shock given the cleanest city tag to Mysuru. 

In 2011-12, Mysuru railway station was declared as the best tourist- friendly station in the country by the Ministry of Tourism. The survey  took into consideration the cleanliness aspect among others. Now, the station has introduced several new initiatives taking the hygiene level to several notches high.

Listing out the measures taken towards hygiene, an officer on the condition of anonymity said they have adopted some of the best practices like waste segregation at source, tied up with the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) for disposal of waste, employed mechanised cleaning system, adequate dustbins and e-toilets equipped with sanitary napkin incinerators among others. Cleaning supervisors keep a watch on platforms, tracks and others through CCTV cameras and on finding any dirt, they immediately summon cleaning staff to the spot. The dustbins are cleared twice in a day and every month Rs 9 lakh is spent on cleanliness. The station handles more than 50,000 passengers every day.

MP Pratap Simha who had sponsored e-toilets from his MPLAD fund, said he was surprised to see Mysuru station not making it to the list. “I doubt the credentials of this survey,” he said. Expressing similar feelings, Anil Kumar, Senior Commercial Manager, Mysuru division, SWR, said the survey is faulty. “I have seen Vasco-Da-Gama station. It is not much clean,” he said.

Mysuru not figuring in clean railway station list surprises many