Representative image (Photo credit: ANI)
NEW DELHI: Indian Railways has put the onus on its zonal officials to sensitise contractual staff about the disposal of garbage, days after a video showing a staffer throwing a bag of garbage from a moving train went viral.In a circular sent out to general managers of all zones, the railway board said the management and disposal from moving trains at nominated stations enroute is done largely by contractual staff of catering and on-board housekeeping service (OBHS) firms, “it is the responsibility of Zonal Railways to train and equip the workforce to comply” with the instructions.“As exercise of holding Samvaad with concerned staff shall be taken up immediately by senior supervisors and officers concerned for adequate sensitisation. The exercise should be jointly held by the commercial and mechanical department till all trains of each zonal railway are covered,” the railway board said. It has instructed all officials concerned to complete this task within a month.The top railway administration has directed its staff to understand the constraints faced by onboard staff in disposal of waste at identified stations and submit their feedback to the board within 10 days. In the “mandatory enroute garbage disposal by OBHS staff and pantry car staff” circular dated July 16, 2024, board had specified that the primary maintenance division should conduct a work study to assess the garbage generation in each train. Based on the study, the divisions should identify stations where garbage is to be disposed off in garbage bags by OBHS and pantry car staff respectively.The zones were directed to intimate the quantity of garbage bags for each train at the identified stations to the OBHS supervisor and pantry car managers. The instructions also mentioned that the cleaning staff at specified stations would collect the garbage bags. The primary maintenance division should analyse the data and take corrective action, if there is a shortfall in the number of filled garbage bags disposed at the nominated stations.