Title - Rlys finally gears up to keep station clean

Bathinda: Close to two weeks after the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of Ambala Division, Anil Kumar, visited the Bathinda junction and promised that requisite arrangements will be made to maintain sanitation at the station, the situation may finally look up by the end of this week.Cleanliness has been a major issue at the station ever since the contract with a private firm got over on August 25. It has been a month and the railway authorities are yet to have a permanent solution to the problem in place.According to highly placed sources, the authorities floated the tender to give the contract for the facility on August 12 and considering that it's a long-winding process, it didn't get over in time for another firm to step in when the earlier contract ended.The finalisation of the contract is in its final stages and will be in place by the end of this week and the new firm will take over soon, the sources confirmed. "The DRM has assured the station authorities that the contract will be finalised and the work will be taken over by the new firm," the source said."The earlier firm had been taking care of cleanliness at the station for the past 4-5 years and wrapped it up after its contract got over. Suddenly, the station authorities were left with no cleaners and equipment since those belonged to the firm. While earlier, close to 50 persons were involved in cleaning the station daily, now there are merely ten who are hired by the station authorities," the source added.

Meanwhile, the passengers have been at the receiving end as the dustbins at the platforms have been spilling over and the lack of civic sense in the people is adding to the problem.

While several areas, especially the waiting room and the platforms look littered these days, on Monday, the station looked comparatively cleaner as the station authorities made sure that even the vendors at the railway platforms maintained cleanliness.

FACT FILE

DRM, Ambala Division, Anil Kumar, had visited the Bathinda junction and promised that arrangements will be made to maintain sanitation at the station. Cleanliness has been a major issue at the station ever since the contract with a pvt firm got over on August 25. The finalisation of the new contract is in its final stages and will be in place by the end of this week and the new firm will take over soon.