As per the report of passenger feedback - Survey of Major Railway Stations for Cleanliness Ranking - recently released by Railway Minister, none of the stations from the state have got any slot in the top 10 cleanest railway stations in the country. Raichur, however, has bagged the fourth place in the list of top 10 dirtiest railway stations. While Beas in Punjab tops the list of cleanest railway stations, Madhubani in Bihar is at the bottom of the grid.
The survey was conducted by Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation through TNS India Pvt Ltd. As many as 1,30,000 passengers participated in the survey that covered 407 major railway stations across the country on 40 cleanliness parameters.
Gujarat has five stations in the list of top 10 cleanest stations in the country - Gandhidham, Jamnagar, Surat, Rajkot and Ankaleshwar. Vasco Da Gama (Goa), Kumbakonam (Tamil Nadu), Nasik Road (Maharashtra), Selam (Tamil Nadu) are the other railway stations that have been ranked among the top 10 cleanest stations.
Bihar has the five stations in the list of top ten dirtiest railway stations in the country - Madhubani, Bhatiyarpur, Anugraha Narayan, Sagauli and Ara, followed by Uttar Pradesh with four stations - Ballia, Shahagani, Janghai and Pratapghar. Of the top ten dirtiest, both Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have nine stations in the list of top 10 dirtiest railway stations in the country with Raichur railway station at fourth place.
Railway officials at Guntakal Division of South Central Railway, however, expressed displeasure for including Raichur among the 10 dirtiest railways stations of the country by stating that the station was one among the cleanest railway stations in the division.
"We are not discouraged by the survey report that put Raichur railway station in the list of dirtiest railway stations of the country. The findings are far from the truth. Raichur station, an A Grade railways station, is one of the best maintained railway stations as far as cleanliness is concerned,” said Gopinath Mallya, Divisional Railway Manager, Guntakal Division.
B. Jagadish Gupta, a member of Guntakal Divisional Railway Users' Consultative Committee, also expressed similar views.
"Cleanliness is not a major issue in Raichur railways station as it is well maintained. There are other issues, such as requirement of elevators, drinking water and parking," he said.
