Visakhapatnam is the cleanest A1 category railway station in the country
Suresh Prabhu released the Third Party Audit Report on Station Cleanliness in New Delhi.
Visakhapatnam: In another feather in Vizag’s cap after third rank in the Swachh Survekshan 2017, Visakhapatnam railway station emerged as the best cleanest railway station among all the A1 category stations in the country. On Wednesday, Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu released the Third Party Audit Report on Station Cleanliness in New Delhi. Vizag has improved its ranking by 41 places from the 42nd rank in 2016, which was conducted by the Indian Railways across 407 stations in the country.
Secunderabad station from Telangana stood in second place and Vijayawada got 4th place among the A1 category stations in the country. Beas in Punjab was the cleanest station in the ‘A’ category stations and Khammam from Telangana occupied second place in the same category. Indian Railways have started third party ‘Cleanliness Index of Stations’ since last year. This index is aimed at instilling competitive spirit among the stations.
A senior official from the Waltair Railway Division commented that all stakeholders of the Vizag railway station played their role in the station getting the best rank. “The biggest challenge for cleanliness at the platforms is visitors along with the passengers, even the toilets are used by large number of visitors who are not Railway travellers. The focus is on all areas of cleanliness, including platforms, coaches, toilets, and tracks,” the official added.
The railway officials informed that Mr. Suresh Prabhu dedicated a “Sewachh Rail Portal” to showcase the rankings of stations and trains, methodology adopted for rankings and stations/trains specific dashboards. This web portal http://www.railswachh.in will also be leveraged to seek passenger feedback on cleanliness on a continual basis. “We are happy and humbled by the recognition. I am personally happy as the recognition gels with the clean city tag. This will enable people to take notice of this wonderful city and historic railways,” said Waltair divisional railway manager Mukul Saran Mathur.