Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu has called for integrated action plans on cleanliness and mopping up revenue from advertisements.

He has called for an integrated policy on cleanliness at the station, platforms and coaches, which has to be finalised by January 5. The zonal Railways have also been directed to constitute a new department for house-keeping using the existing staff strength. This policy will ensure better and effective coordination among number of departments involved for providing cleanliness, and lay down structures/procedures for garbage collection, garbage sorting and garbage disposal.

Simultaneously, the Minister has also formed a taskforce to submit a detailed report on how to utilise the idle space in coaches, wagons, trains, railway stations, consumable items, utensils, beddings, which could be used for advertising, publicity and to generate additional revenues. The six-member Task Force under the Chairmanship of Member Traffic, Railway Board, consists of Advisor of Finance (Railway Board), General Manger of Central Railway, Adviser of Infrastructure (Railway Board), Chairman-cum-Managing Director of RITES and Managing Director of IRCTC. RITES, on the directions of Railway Minister, had undertaken a study and submitted a concept note to the Railway Board to leverage these resources, last week, said the release.

comment COMMENT NOW