Screen grab from video posted by @theudeshvlogs
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Mizoram’s first railway line on Saturday, the newly opened Sairang railway station was left strewn with garbage and food waste. A video of the mess, posted online by a vlogger, has gone viral drawing widespread criticism over lack of civic sense.The 51.38-km Bairabi–Sairang broad-gauge project, built at a cost of Rs 8,070 crore, was hailed as a historic milestone for the state and one of Indian Railways’ most complex undertakings. But within 24 hours of its launch, visuals of the station in a messy state overshadowed the celebrations.The video, posted by vlogger Udesh Das under the title “Indians have zero civic sense,” showed the carpets from the inauguration strewn with trash, captioned, “Disheartening sight at Sairang Railway Station, Mizoram, just inaugurated yesterday! Let’s take pride in keeping our stations clean. A plea to all Indians:Let’s maintain cleanliness & respect our public spaces.” “Look at this. This is the condition of the railway station after 24 hours of inauguration. People have littered everywhere. Who eats and leaves [plates] like this. I am angry with my people,” Das said in the clip.“The inauguration took place yesterday. They place dustbins everywhere during these events, but people are littering everywhere. This is not just about this station. It’s about our civic sense,” he added.Responding to the criticism, Indian Railways said the matter had been escalated to the concerned official, tagging the divisional railway manager of the Lumding Division. The viral clip with more than 1.7 lakh views and hundreds of comments angered citizens, accusing them of lacking civic responsibility.“We Indians deserve trains with only third-class unreserved seats and wooden benches, priced at just Rs 100 from Sairang to Delhi. After all, we dislike modern trains like Vande Bharat and Duronto. Now time being lets start the blame game and ask the Government why they are not cleaning this station immediately,” one user wrote.Others echoed similar views. “People will say it’s Modi’s fault,” one comment read, while another added, “Agree, more than education, civic sense is important.”
