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Stagnant sewage water, littering pose dengue threat at Charbagh railway station
The sanitary condition of the railway station remains deplorable despite a month-long cleanliness drive conducted in October.
LUCKNOW: While the Lucknow district administration has been conducting door-to-door inspections to check for mosquito larvae in residential areas, stagnated water collected along the railway tracks at the city’s Charbagh station is becoming a potential breeding ground for the parasite. Making matters worse, waste strewn around this stagnated water is increasing the chances of infestation, posing a threat to public health.
The sanitary condition of the railway station remains deplorable despite a month-long cleanliness drive conducted in October. This drive was conducted by the northern railway division of the Charbagh station as part of ‘Cleanliness Special Drive 2.0’. In fact, in September, the station was awarded an ISO (International organisation for Standardisation) certificate for high-standard passenger amenities and a clean and friendly environment.
However, a spot visit by HT on Wednesday revealed that the sewage line on several platforms was littered with food packets, bottles, and other garbage items. This litter was choking the sewage line, causing the black water to become stagnant, and making the spot conducive for mosquito breeding. This is especially worrying at a time when the city is reporting new cases of dengue and other vector-borne diseases regularly.
As for the upkeep of cleanliness, the HT team could only find one sanitary worker on platform number 1, who was sweeping all the littered garbage into the sewage. The condition of the platform also suggests that the punishment reserved for those found littering -- a fine of ₹500 or 3 years of imprisonment or both -- isn’t helping much in getting rid of the civic apathy.
When queried on the matter, a senior public relations officer of the Northern Railways said, “The tracks are cleaned during the night time when the movement of trains is relatively lesser but conducting the anti-larva fogging is Luckow Municipal Corporation’s responsibility.”
Meanwhile, Inderjeet Singh, Lucknow’s municipal commissioner, said, “We have not received any request from the railways for anti-larva fogging. Their officials say they are an independent body. We wrote many letters to them in this regard but didn’t receive any answers. If the station needs anti-larva fogging, they can just write to us and we would be more than happy to conduct the drive in the public interest.”
