The Comptroller and Auditor Basic of India (CAG) discovered that the Railway Ministry had framed a number of norms for passenger facilities at stations; nevertheless, zones didn’t comply, resulting in widespread discrepancies in providers, together with the presence of E. coli micro organism in ingesting water from water coolers and unhygienic situations in washrooms, amongst others.
“Bacteriological evaluation of ingesting water was not carried out at 59 stations over six zones,” the CAG stated in its report — Passenger facilities and sanitation at non-suburban railway stations in Indian Railways — tabled in Parliament on August 12.
“Water pattern from water cooler was optimistic for E-coli at two stations (Coimbatore and Palakkad Junctions) in SR (Southern Railway), one station (Hyderabad) in SCR (South Central Railway), 4 stations (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Bhiwandi Highway, Kalyan and Lonavala) in CR (Central Railway) and one station (Madhupur) in ER (Jap Railway),” it added after finding out passenger providers of 512 non-suburban grade stations throughout all zones.
“Take a look at outcomes of ingesting water samples collected from faucets in platforms at 49 stations in eight zones throughout 2022-23 and 56 stations in 9 zones throughout 2023-24 indicated presence of Whole coliforms micro organism (together with E-coli),” the report acknowledged.
The audit discovered bacteriological exams, apart from Whole coliforms, to be unsatisfactory at eight stations in 4 zones throughout 2022-23 and 11 stations in 5 zones throughout 2023-24.
The CAG stated the report coated cases recognized throughout its 2019-20 to 2023-24 take a look at audit, together with earlier circumstances not reported beforehand and, wherever needed, cases from after 2023-24 as properly.
In accordance with the report, there are 5,908 railway stations underneath the Non-Suburban Group (NSG), and Indian Railways operated over 7,424 passenger trains (non-suburban) day by day and carried 292.4 crore non-suburban passengers in 2023-24.
Outlining the aim of the detailed inspection, the CAG stated that the Railway Board had issued numerous tips for the availability of passenger facilities at stations and that an audit was carried out to evaluate whether or not Indian Railways’ efforts to make sure the availability of passenger facilities and sanitation at stations yielded the meant advantages.
The audit discovered that 458 out of the 512 chosen stations, accounting for greater than 89 per cent, had been poor within the provision of Minimal Important Facilities (MEA).
It stated that at these 458 stations, MEAs had been both not offered in any respect or had been accessible under the prescribed norms.
“In April 2018, RB (Railway Board) issued complete directions prescribing Minimal Important Facilities (MEA), Beneficial Facilities (RA) and Fascinating Facilities (DA) for stations categorised as NSG 1 to NSG 6. RB stipulated that MEAs had been to be ensured in any respect stations by 31 August 2018,” the report stated.
“RB’s directions (April 2018) mandated that MEAs be offered first in any respect stations, no matter class. These embrace ingesting water, ready halls, seating preparations, platform shelters, urinals, latrines, high-level platforms, followers, Foot Over Bridges (FOBs), dustbins, clocks and public deal with techniques,” it added.
It discovered even stations like CSMT, Howrah, Sealdah, New Delhi and Mumbai Central, which come underneath the NSG-1 class, poor in seating preparations, sanitary services (urinals and latrines), dustbins and digital practice indicator boards, amongst others.
“Audit scrutiny of NSG-1 class stations revealed deficiencies in core passenger facilities, together with ingesting water faucets (12 stations), followers and water coolers (eight stations every) and signage (5 stations),” the report stated.
The report, after analysing the Passenger Facilities Administration System, discovered deficiencies within the provision of facilities towards MEA norms, resembling a shortfall of latrines at 201 stations, urinals at 403 stations and water faucets at 2,035 stations, amongst others.
Amongst its main suggestions, the CAG urged the Railways to “guarantee compliance with prescribed protocols for inspection of water provide techniques and complete testing of ingesting water high quality, together with all parameters underneath the Uniform Consuming Water High quality Protocol.”
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