Kalyan railway station gets cleanliness boost

The Kalyan railway station administration is gearing up to make it one of the cleanest on the Central Railway (CR).

The Kalyan railway station administration is gearing up to make it one of the cleanest on the Central Railway (CR).

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The station, which is one of CR’s busiest, has hired around 150 contract labourers and 21 cleaning machines to maintain the cleanliness of the premises.

In 2018, Kalyan railway station had been named the third dirtiest station in the country during a survey carried out by Indian Railways.

Officials claimed that there was a lack of manpower to carry out clean-up drives of the station and maintain the foot overbridges (FoB) and skywalk, platforms, and exit points.

However, in the last two to three months, the station has slowly been cleaning up its act.

“We have hired more sanitation workers on a contract basis, and 21 machines used for cleaning platforms,” said a senior official from Kalyan railway station.

“The number of dustbins at every corner has been increased and regular cleaning work has now resulted in a clean station,” he added.

“Before, we had only 30 to 40 sanitation workers, with two to three cleaning machines. The machines were in defunct condition. However, now we have around 150 workers who work in shifts and are responsible for cleaning the platforms, FoBs, railway tracks, and public toilets,” said another station official. Being an important junction, Kalyan railway station sees lakhs of commuters daily.

The station produces 5 tonnes of waste daily and most of it is collected from the platforms and tracks.

“Increase in manpower and machines has helped to clean the maximum area of the station in less time and more regularly. We are also expecting more public toilets on the platforms 4-5 and 6-7 which will help curb public urination near the railway tracks,” said the railway official.

Commuters have taken note of the changes and are happy to see their station being maintained.

“Being the junction, the station sees various commuters travelling on both local and long-distance trains, leading to maximum production of waste with poor management of cleanliness. However, this has been changed gradually since the last few months,” said Pranali Jadhav, 24, a regular commuter from Khadakpada, Kalyan.

“Before, a public toilet was set up on platform 1, the area used to stink and the FoBs were stained with pan and gutka. However, these areas are being cleaned regularly now and more dustbins have been placed around the platforms and bridges,” said Anuj Sharma, 25, another commuter from Sai Chowk, Kalyan.