Mechanised laundries yet to be set up

Chennai: The tendering process for setting up new mechanised laundries at Mangalore, Madurai, Ernakulam and Coimbatore is not seeing an end despite having been mooted for over four years, according to senior Southern Railway officials.

“For the past two years, tendering and re-tendering has become so common that we have no clue when the units will be set up and be functional. For the unit in Coimbatore, for instance, we had failed to find proper contract agencies who would offer a proper deal to the Railways,” said a senior official to DC. “We will be raising tenders again shortly.”

Before the commissioning of the two laundries in the southern zone, at Chennai and Trivandrum, it was decided that four new mechanised laundries would come up to ease the load on the already functional laundries and for better catering to frequent complaints from passengers.

“Complaints of unwashed or badly cleaned linen are a major issue. Tenders were raised for contractors to set up units in these places while we would provide the linen. But for the rates we want, we haven’t received willing takers,” the official said.