New Delhi: Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in the railway budget presented in Lok Sabha introduced a string of measures to improve the cleanliness on stations and trains. Suresh Prabhu announced ‘Clean my Coach’ service on Pan India basis, where a passenger can request cleaning of his/her coach/toilets on demand through SMS. The government also set a target of 30000 bio-toilets in the next financial year.
Suresh Prabhu informed the Parliament Indian Railways have developed world’s first Bio-Vaccum toilet and has plan to provide 17,000 Bio-toilets in the trains by the next financial year. Prabhu also announced that 65,000 additional berths will be provided in the trains and 2500 water vending machines will be installed, in order to make travel on Indian Railways more comfortable.
The Railway Minister proposed to undertake awareness campaigns to improve cleanliness at select stations, station approach roads and adjacent colonies. He also said that portable bio toilets will be provided at all platforms of select stations to cater to the demand of senior citizens, persons with disabilities and women passengers. Innovative means of providing and maintaining toilets through advertisement rights, CSR sponsorship, etc to be explored.
@Agency report.
