Rlys to spend Rs 8 crore per year to keep Central station clean

Rlys to spend Rs 8 cr per year to keep Central station clean

10 Aug 2008,

V Ayyappan,TNN

CHENNAI: Faced by severe criticism over its inability to keep railway stations and railway tracks clean, Southern Railway is planning to finalise a Rs 8-crore annual contract with a private company to keep Central railway station clean. A professional firm with experience in cleaning of stations, platforms, railway tracks and coaches will be handed over the contract. The railways want to go ahead with the contract in spite of the high cost because it would attract professional agencies rather than small contractors who have been handling cleaning operations at the station so far. The earlier contract was for Rs 2 crore. "We want a complete solution to ensure cleanliness which is becoming a challenge because of high density and movement of passengers. The zone will have to explain the steep increase in the value of the contract, but we would like to approve it because the idea is to make Central station on par with railway stations in developed countries," said southern railway chief medical director Dr A Elangovan. Cleanliness has become a priority as the railways recently switched from manual cleaning to mechanical cleaning. But, availability of efficient firms to take up the works across the zone has always been a challenge. Hence, the railways made a presentation before representatives of the cleaning industry at the three-day Clean India expo on Saturday. However, cleaning industry representatives felt that stations and railway tracks could not be cleaned properly because of an anomaly in the tender system followed by the railways. "Since most of the contracts for cleaning are being awarded for a year or two, the agencies who win the contract hesitate to invest in expensive but effective machinery for cleaning. They would rather cut corners to make the most out of the contract . Specifications in the tender documents are not clear whether cleaning should be done every hour, every day or round the clock," said Eureka Forbes deputy general manager Manoj Nag Choudhury. "Southern Railway is also open to increasing the period of contract for cleaning works. We have increased it from one year to three years and may extend it to five years, said Southern Railway chief mechanical engineer V Carmelus.