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Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 14
The Northern Railway, Delhi Division, today launched a massive cleaning operation in Delhi in accordance with the directives issued by the National Green Tribunal.
Out of 33 stations in the Delhi area, contracts of 29 stations are now in place and four are being cleaned on a regular basis.
The operations at these stations include mechanised cleaning of station premises, rag-picking, cleaning of drains and disposal of garbage. In addition, four rag-picking contracts have been give under which 75 km will be covered.
Northern Railway has also issued notices to 68 dwellers along the tracks between the New Delhi and Azadpur stations for littering. It has imposed fines amounting to Rs 5,000 on each of them. Encroachments are a major source of generation of filth, garbage and municipal solid waste.
There are about 47,000 jhuggies on railway land in the Delhi area. Out of these, about 24,500 jhuggies lie in the safety zone within 15 m of the outermost track.
The railway also held a high-level committee meeting recently to review the cleaning activities at stations and along the tracks in the Delhi area. The meeting was attended by senior offiils of Northern Railway and Railway Board, including AK Mittal, chairman, Railway Board; Ajay Shukla, member, Traffic; AK Puthia, general manager, Northern Railway; and Arun Arora, divisional railway manager, Delhi Division.
The Railways have launched a massive drive deploying JCBs and dumpers for one-time cleaning and disposal of garbage lying alongside the tracks near these encroachments. The drive commenced in the Azadpur area on March 10 and whole Delhi will be covered within a month. Machinery such as excavators and a large number of work force has been deployed for undertaking the work.
Notices to 68 dwellers
Northern Railway has also issued notices to 68 dwellers along the tracks between the New Delhi and Azadpur stations for littering. It has imposed fines amounting to Rs 5,000 on each of them. Encroachments are a major source of generation of filth, garbage and municipal solid waste.
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