GUWAHATI, Aug 16 - As part of its �Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat� initiative, the Maligaon-headquartered Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) today started a cleanliness drive called �Swachhta Pakhwada� across the zone.
The drive will continue till August 31 and include involvement of officers and employees from the zonal headquarters and all the five divisions � Katihar, Alipurduar, Rangia, Lumding and Tinsukia � of the NFR.
On the first day of the drive today, NFR General Manager Chahatey Ram administered the �Swachhta pledge� to Railway officers and employees at the zonal headquarters at Maligaon.
�The primary focus of the drive will be on cleanliness of all �A-1� and �A� category stations. Accordingly, stations like Guwahati, Jorhat Town, Tinsukia, New Jalpaiguri, Siliguri Junction, Jogbani, Purnia Junction, Raiganj, Alipurduar Junction and Cooch Behar, among others, have been identified. Cleanliness of these stations will be monitored by senior Railway officers,� NFR Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Pranav Jyoti Sharma said.
Cleanliness drives will also be carried out in the Dibrugarh-Guwahati-Naharlagun Shatabdi Express, the Guwahati-Jorhat Jan Shatabdi Express, the Kamakhya-Bangalore Humsafar Express, the Guwahati-Silchar-New Delhi Sampark Kranti Express, the Kamakhya-Gandhidham Express, the Guwahati-Bangalore Express, the Guwahati-Anand Vihar Express, the Guwahati-Okha Express, the Kamakhya-Yesvantpur Express, the Avadh Assam Express and the Kamrup Express, which will also be monitored by senior Railway officers during the fortnight-long drive.
The first day of the drive christened �Swachh Awareness� was dedicated to generating awareness about cleanliness by administering the Swachhta pledge to Railway staff and safai karmacharis, besides organising street plays with the help of NGOs, religious bodies and schoolchildren.
�The second day of the drive on Thursday has been christened �Swachh Swambad� or �Cleanliness Dialogue with Public� during which seminars on sanitation will be organised, while focus will also be given on the upkeep of railway stations by involving NGOs, charitable institutions, Scouts and Guides, unions and all employees to undertake cleanliness drives at their nearest stations,� Sharma said.
During the fortnight, events and drives will be taken on specific themes like Swachh Stations, Swachh Railgadi, Swachh Parisar, Swachh Ahar, Swachh Neer, Swachh Prasadhan and Swachh Competition.
�During the entire period of the drive, the NFR will undertake activities like staging of streetplays, distribution of leaflets among passengers, sanitization of the staff associated with coach cleaning and maintenance, among other things,� said the NFR CPRO.
