Title - Railway mulls effective waste management system for stations, tracks

MANGALORE: The Palakkad division of Southern Railway will soon introduce an effective waste management system to keep the Mangalore Central Railway station clean.

A waste management unit, that will convert waste generated at the centaury-old station into biofuel, will be set up at the station and the National Institute of Technology, Calicut, (NITC) is currently working on the project. However, officials said that the project is still in the initial stage.

The issue came up in a recent meeting chaired by Mangalore MP Nalin Kumar Kateel. At the meeting several passengers and people's representatives had complained about lack of cleanliness at the station.

Southern Railway additional divisional railway manager Mohan Menon told TOI that the division is contemplating on putting in place a permanent mechanism for waste management in all stations including Mangalore Central.

"It is found that the tracks are littered with food packets, plastic bags and bottles and foils used for covering eatables. A few passengers also use the toilets on board the train while they are halted at stations. We have held discussion with NITC and soon will come out with a system to address the issue of lack of cleanliness," he said.

He added that the division has already reserved Rs 17 crore for various infrastructure developments in and around the Central railway station. "We are focusing on waste segregation at the user end. The waste management should start from passengers," he said.