CHENNAI: Urapakkam is an unusual railway station in the sense that when one steps down from a train, a neat platform with ample dustbins and potted plants meets the eye.
For regular train commuters, clean railway stations are a desire which currently eludes them. It was a single man’s determination to see a cleaner station that made him devote his earnings and life towards the purpose of keeping this station clean.
Located in Kanchipuram district, this tiny station was in a shoddy state until last year March, which is when Rajesh Kannan Yadav, 43, approached Southern Railway officials with the wish of taking the responsibility of keeping the station premises clean on him. Officials were surprised but initially doubted the ability of a single man to maintain a railway station.
They agreed to hand him the responsibility for a month. The 30 days went by and the officials, impressed by the upkeep of the station, extended his responsibility for six more months.
And now for over a year since then he wakes up early morning and spends the day cleaning and grooming the station |premises, and thinking of novel ideas to make it better.
