Title - ECoR imposes penalty for spitting in railway premises

East Coast Railway (ECoR) carried out a drive against spitting in railway stations under its jurisdiction and has collected fine of Rs 41,117 from 736 persons between December 16 and 25, ECoR sources said today. The fine have been collected from Bhubaneswar, Puri, Cuttack, Visakhapatnam, Sambalpur, Rayagada, Berhampur, Koraput, Palasa, Vizianagaram, Bhadrak, Jajpur-Keonjhar Road, Khurda Road, Angul and other important stations under ECoR.

According to the Indian Railways (Penalties for Activities Affecting Cleanliness at Railway Premises) Rules 2012, those found spitting on the platforms, railway tracks or any place on the station premises would be slapped with a fine of Rs 100 at A1 stations like Bhubaneswar, Puri and Visakhapatnam while the act would draw a fine of Rs 50 at ‘A’ class stations like Bhadrak, Berhampur, Cuttack, Jajpur-Keonjhar Road, Khurda Road, Palasa, Rayagada, Srikakulam Road, Vizianagaram and Sambalpur. In rest of the stations under ECoR jurisdiction, the fine would be Rs 30. This apart, offences like dumping litter,  defacing railway property, cooking, bathing, urinating, defecating, feeding animals, pasting posters, writing and drawing anything on any railway property would attract hefty fine, Railway sources said. Authorised vendors/hawkers have been instructed to make necessary arrangements in their shops or outlets for proper disposal of waste. Station managers, ticket collectors of commercial department or equivalent rank of operating department, RPF and officials authorized by Railways have been instructed to have strict vigil over this. Instructions have also been given to the station managers to maintain cleanliness at station premises and they have been empowered to slap fine as per the provision, an official release of ECoR stated.