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Topic for Discussion : Waste creation by train commuters
(Posted on: 16thJuly 2009 )

 

During commuting by short-distance trains like Deccan Queen (Pune-Mumbai), Panchavati Express (Mumbai-Manmad), we always observe that large number of people including highly educated people throwing cups, wrappers (plastic / paper) and plastic bottles outside the train. Unknowingly their act leads to waste creation at railway tracks. The daily frequency of short distance trains from Pune / Nasik to Mumbai results in generating a lot of garbage near tracks. The problem is more severe in case of long distance trains.

The waste accumulated at stations is cleaned by railway staff but question about waste accumulated in natural areas / forest patches remains unnoticed. This waste goes on accumulating and eventually leads to pollution of natural areas, chocking up of river tracks, drains affecting the ecology of area, also changing natural habits of wild animals like monkeys.

It seems that there is great need of awareness in people about such issues to conserve our precious Environment. We can simply avoid this by disposing wrappers /bottles / cups in platform dustbin or can keep it beneath the seat, so that it can be cleaned by railway staff.

What more can be done in an effective manner to avoid such kind of pollution?


Name of the Stakeholder / citizen
Comment
AMAR P. MANE(3/08/2009)
“A little effort for achieving environmental awareness in each heart”
  1. Calculate the distance between the stations and types of ecologies cover under the route.
  2. Strictly Bann the plastic use and carry bags, tobacco sell on stations.
  3. Use the banner/photos in train showing waste generated by people while traveling.
  4. Use net baskets in trains below the seats.
  5. Use metal net on each window to avoid the waste thrown out.
  6. Strictly Bann vendors in short route trains.
  7. Use of electric dustbins in each station it will help to burn waste.
  8. For environmental awareness one boggi can be declared as GREEN CITIZEN like senior citizen.
  9. Paint one boggi showing environmental awareness.

Use Slogans like:

  • Clean Train, Clean environment
  • We clean, keep environment clean
  • What I can do, you cannot. What you can do, I cannot. But together we can do clean and beautiful environment.
  • If we travel clean, our nature is always green.
  • Stop pollution, built green nation.
Kirti Amritkar(04/08/2009)
Following are some suggestions which can be helpful to reduce waste generation and save the unhygienic task of cleaning the waste/ tracks.
  1. Displaying slogans on train windows about not throwing waste outside the train.
  2. Keeping dustbins at each bogy/ compartment and making people aware about that.
  3. IRCTC caterer can be directed to create awareness while serving food/ tea/ coffee.(telling people about not throwing waste outside train, printing message on food wrappers, paper napkins like ‘ please don’t throw cups/ plates outside’)
  4. One of the IRCTC caterer’s staff can go for collecting the used cups/dishes served by them after some fixed time interval.
  5. Awareness through newspaper/appeal to general public
  6. Creating awareness in venders / hawkers selling food/magazines in or outside trains about packaging etc. generally thay sell items covered in plastic wrappers ..

       This can be started initially for the short distance trains like Panchavati/ Deccan Queen/ Sinhagad and then can be extended to locals in Mumbai and long distance trains. This can also reduce the Unhygienic task of cleaning the waste/ tracks . The same man force can be used for waste segregation, proper disposal of waste.
       These steps can help us leading towards a pollution-free environment & Contribution towards conservation of nature.

Harshad Kaduskar
(21/11/2009)
“Following are few suggestions which can be used regarding the issue:”
  1. खिडक्यांवर जाळ्या बसवणे जेणेकरून कोणत्याही प्रकारचा कचरा बाहेर टाकला जाणार नाही.
  2. प्रत्येक compartment मध्ये कमीत कमी एक कचरापेटी असावी.
  3. Railway Catering Department ने एक squad तयार करावा, ज्याचे काम विक्रेत्यांप्रमाणेच डब्याडब्यात फिरून कचरा जमा करणे हे असेल. यामध्ये rag pickers ला देखील मोठया प्रमाणात समाविष्ट करावे.
  4. Unreserved व general डब्ब्यांमध्ये कचरा जमा करण्याचे काम गाडी स्टेशनला थांबल्यावर करता येईल.
  5. तसेच जमा केलेला कचरा शेवटच्या अथवा मधल्या स्टेशनवर उतरवून , रिकाम्या कचरापेटया द्याव्यात.
  6. हा कचरा जमा झाल्यावर त्या त्या स्टेशनवर त्याचे वर्गीकरण करून पुनर्चक्रिकरण करावे, त्यापासून खत तयार करावे.
  7. या गाडयांची नियमितरेत्या ‘ग्रीन ऑडिट’ करण्यात यावे व तेथील स्वछता व जमा/विल्हेवाट केलेल्या कचर्‍याच्या प्रमाणाच्या आधारे त्या गाडीच्या रेल्वे कर्मचार्‍यांना पारितोषिक देण्यात यावे.
  8. पुनर्चक्रित कचर्‍यापासून व खतापासून झालेल्या उत्त्पनाचा वाटा कर्मचार्‍यांच्या पारितोषिकासाठी वापरता येईल.
  9. या सर्व उपक्रमाची publicity सर्व स्टेशन तथा रेल्वे डब्यांमध्ये करण्यात यावी, जसे “कृपया Green Brigade ला साथ द्या.” इ.
  10. काही Green Brigade चे कर्मचारी स्वछता व पर्यावरण संरक्षणावर लोकांशी चर्चा करून माहिती देऊ शकतील जेणेकरून पर्यावरणविषयक जनजागृतीत मोलाची भर पडेल.
Joaquim Fernandes(28/11/2009)

Please note that majority of the commuters traveling by trains are illiterate. It must be made mandatory for the Railways to add a clause in the Contract whilst awarding Catering Contract to instruct his staff/workers, selling food/drink items, to collect the left over (waste) from the commuters within a specified time in order to avoid littering and also to instruct his staff/workers to orally/ verbally warn commuters from throwing waste outside of a running train.

Failure on the part of the Catering Contractor and his staff/workers, to abide by the said clause of collecting waste within specified time in order to avoid littering as also orally/ verbally warning the commuters, the Contractor should be penalized.

I am sure by the aforesaid you can minimize littering.
U.R.Shiroorkar
NISARGE RAKSHAK Seva Sanstha
(29/12/2009)
“ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION CAUSED BY THE INDIAN RAILWAY’S”

The pollution created by trains and is faced by every citizen as well as the other all living & non living organisms in the country is a cause of concern and it is neglected by the responsible authorities without bothering for the health of the citizens and of the Country. Though the solution to this problem is very easy, and there is no need to go through major technical aspects only required thing is will to come over this problem by basically accepting that this problem exist. That is only willingness to try to get redress al of the problem. The problem must be studied at length and must be redressed as soon as possible otherwise the silent poisoning of the human beings and others will continue and causes increased respiratory illness, damage to plants and animals. Foreign matter in air which adversely affects the well-being of the individual or cause damage to property. Engineers consciously incorporate in their designs sufficient and safeguard to ensure that they do not contribute to atmospheric pollution. They must apply their integrity and problem solving abilities to eliminate air pollution where it exists and restoring the natural environment.

Railways have provided a very good transportation facility for the commuters since more than 100 years in India and it has reached to each and every part of the country. It is really highly appreciable. It has improved a lot, as the time changed in respect of its technology, its appearance, comforts for the passengers, timing, frequency, pantry cars etc except one thing which would have been given priority, which is helping the deterioration of the surrounding environment from where these trains pass. It is causing serious harm to the cities, villages, towns, mountains etc by giving a very unhygienic environment to breath and sustains the impact, if the person has capacity to sustain this type of pollution load. You must be confused what I am talking about, it is a type of pollution, I wish to bring to your kind notice which is seen by everybody, felt its stink odors at every station and every where in surroundings when a train is passed nearby them at all the time, but no one feels to give a thought for the same as they are not aware of the consequences. Railway authorities must not think about only passengers but also they have to think of the persons, localities, vicinities, cities, towns villages, buildings, mountains, rivers, valleys from where it is passed and the persons dwelling are the sufferers. Railway’s pollute environment., as they do not have a system to collect the sewage generated by the passengers as well as the outsiders using it when it is at halt by proving close water closet with a proper system. Discharging fresh faecal matter to the open atmosphere, either when the train is in motion or it is not in motion.

If it is in motion the faecal matter excreted by the passenger is flushed from the train, which when comes out of the pan of the running train, gets fragmented in to smallest particles and will mix in the open atmosphere contributing to air pollution and becomes injurious to human, plant or animal life or to the property or which unreasonably interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life & property. The direction and speed of the surface winds govern the drift and diffusion of air pollutants discharged near the ground level. The higher the wind speed or relative motion of the train at or near the point of discharge of pollutants, the more rapidly pollutants are carried away from the source. The pollutants so dispersed will not exist at the same concentration but will rapidly dilute with the greater volume of air. If the persons faecal matter (Escherichia Coli normally inhibits in the intestinal tract of man and it is excreted with faeces, colliforms are indicators of pollution) is infected one, then the persons who are inhaling the air are bound to get infected and the disease will reach to number of places within shortest time spell.

If the train is at station and not in the motion and parked at the station, its toilets are used by the beggars, drug addicts, gardulles and many other persons, who are not having this facility where they can answer to the natures call and by using this facility at the halt train they creates an unhygienic surrounding in the station premises, tracks, resulting in to very bad stench i.e. smell, unaesthetic seen and unbearable waiting and becomes very difficult to stand at the platform.

In case of the Contamination of water bodies by domestic sewage and other pollutants. Sewage is an excellent medium for the development of bacteria, some of which may be pathogenic. In fresh sewage, there will be approximately 10 5 bacteria per ml while in stale sewage the bacteria count will rise to 10 7 or even more per ml. The raw sewage is very harmful, if it consists pathogen bacteria (any disease producing micro organism or substance), which are capable of causing diseases such as typhoid fever, dysentery, diarrorhea and cholera. Which can cause harm to the persons who comes in direct contact with such water. Also the chances of getting these pathogens mixed the air when it comes of the running trains cannot be ruled out. Hence contamination of air may take place and results as same as water contamination and may cause danger to the life.

Air Pollution monitoring authorities tests air samples for the physical & chemical parameters such as SPM,CO,NOx etc and not biological (measuring levels of faecal contamination) one which is a special task and the costs much higher also it is not felt necessary to go for the test. Society’s basic interest in pollution is owing to its effects on living organisms; hence the assessment of pollution is basically a biological problem. Yet in assessment of pollution has traditionally been chemically oriented and biological aspect have been either omitted or put up in subsidiary position. The reasons for omitting biological data have been
  • Physical-chemical data are amenable to numerical descriptions but much of the biological information has been non quantitative in nature.
  • Biological data collection has been tedious & expensive.
  • Biologists have rarely tried to simplify the data

When sewage mixes with water it makes water contamination and makes the water unfit for drinking and never used for potable purpose. However the same way when air gets contaminated with the mixing of sewage in small particles and inhaled by the person, it is too, more dangerous but as it is not seen or tested, it is conveniently neglected.

To get rid off this problem what is needed, only sincere efforts and willingness to do this Indian Railways must ensure that the discharges made to the open atmosphere by letting through the Water Closets does not create a public health hazard or destroy the utility and beneficent uses of the fresh air.

Environmental health protection is essential for life and solution for this problem is of low cost, only the requirement is of in-depth study of the situation and willingness to understand the problem. It requires only to provide collection pipe below the WC’s of every compartment, collect the sewage generated during each journey and disposal of the same at the stations, where provisions of chambers are made, which are then collected by the Municipal drains of that particular city’s system. This will help the environment inside the station healthy, odorless, aesthetic view, good looking and non embarrassing to the station authorities and also help the passerby to avoid to get the polluted air, while the train passes nearby them.

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