Title - Rag pickers to help keep Ludhiana railway station clean

After railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal pointed out the unhygienic conditions prevailing at Ludhiana railway station during his recent visit, local railway authorities are scrambling to come up with ways and means to keep the station neat and clean.
In one such endeavour, railway authorities are looking at engaging rag pickers to keep platforms at the local railway station clean, a practice prevalent at different railway stations across India.A proposal has been sent to higher railway authorities to hire rag pickers through contractors to clean tracks as part of the cleanliness drive. The whole process would take at least two-three months to complete.With the outsourcing of cleaning job to private contractors, cleanliness on tracks on seven platforms at the railway station would be ensured.Station superintendent Ravinder Sharma said that rag pickers are deployed for track-cleaning at New Delhi, Dehradun, Haridwar, Moradabad and Jalandhar stations at present. Higher authorities plan to cover about 40 railway stations in the country through hiring of rag pickers through contractors, including the Ludhiana railway station.

He said that rag pickers would be asked to clean the area within 50 metres of both ends of the platforms throughout the day.