Kochi: Commuters beware! The Southern Railway is all set to strictly impose a fine of Rs 2,000 for littering station platforms, among others. However, the Railways promises to take the penal action only after making available all infrastructure facilities like placing dustbins at a gap of 20 metres at platforms.
“We’ll place dustbins at a gap of every 10 to 20 metres on platforms of the Ernakulam South railway station. This means there will be 30 dustbins on a single platform having a length of 630 metres. We don’t expect a commuter to go and deposit food packets and wastes say 100 metres away. This will be the case with other major stations in the Thiruvananthapuram division,” area manager Dr Rajesh Chandran said.
The Railways has urged NGOs and firms to sponsor such small infrastructure as part of their corporate social responsibility which would also result in fast implementation.
“Once the required dustbins are in place, we’re going to strictly impose the penalty for offences like littering,” the officer said.
On Saturday, an Ernakulam-based NGO, Jan-Kalyan Society, handed over 50 dustbins to the railway authorities which will be placed at Ernakulam South and North stations. “They have promised another 100. Similarly we’ve approached more NGOs and firms for this good cause. We’re confident of placing enough dustbins so that a commuter could easily spot them near him anywhere at stations,” he said.
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