Ragpickers come forward to keep rly premises clean
Ragpicker Association of Chembur approached Western Railway to allow
ragpickers to clean its premises, free of cost In a bid to keep the railway
premises clean, the Ragpicker Association of Chembur has approached the
Western Railway officials offering their services free of cost. Railways
till now, has been hiring labourers on contract basis to clean the premises.
According to the Divisional Railway Manager for Western Railways
Satyaprakash, the tie-up between the association and the Railways is purely
out of consideration and has nothing to do with the shortage of manpower in
Railways. “This association is run by a non-government organisation. They
approached us to allow the ragpickers, who are children working with them,
to clean the premises. We agreed to provide these children with basic
requirements like polythenes, garbage boxes etc. These ragpickers will not
be paid for their services as it’s an act of philanthropy,” said
Satyaprakash.
He added that the Bandra Terminus will be the first one among
the stations on Western line to be cleaned by these rag pickers. The work
will start in a day or two. “Let’s see how the whole thing goes. Depending
on the success of the clean up of Bandra Terminus, we will decide weather or
not we should have a permanent tie-up with the association for cleaning 28
stations on the Western line,” said Satyaprakash. When asked about the
number of ragpickers at each station, he said, “It’s yet to be decided.”
Though the officials refute the claim that it is the dearth of manpower with
Western railway that has prompted them to resort to the services of the
association, there are currently only 350 employees to maintain the
cleanliness of the stations on Western line. “We need manpower of 1,000 to
meet the requirements of the Western Railway,” revealed an official on the
condition of anonymity.
“The reason is not the dearth of manpower. Since the cleaning at the premises is done periodically, these ragpickers will work throughout the day. It would help in reducing the dirt in the premises,” added Satyaprakash.