As part of the Southern Railway’s ‘Swatchhta Pakhwada’ clean-up campaign in Salem Division, railway staff, officials and volunteers of local non-government organisations (NGOs) conducted a clean-up campaign along a 3-km stretch of railway track between Coonoor and Kattery railway stations on Tuesday.
Railway officials said that the campaign focused on cleaning plastic waste from all railway buildings and premises and creating awareness among traders and the public against the use of plastic items. Around 45 people, including railway staff, police and members of local NGO ‘Clean Coonoor’ helped in the campaign, at the end of which around 400 kg of waste was collected. Most of the waste collected was plastic items accumulated along the side of the railway tracks used by the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR).
The campaign is to be conducted in various districts by the railways between September 16 and September 30.
The volunteers said that most of the waste had been washed down from roads surrounding the railway line during rain. It was important that people realised that plastic waste would have long-term effects away from the areas where they were first thrown, including reserve forests and water bodies.
