Special Focus on Eliminating The Use Of Single Use Plastic
Photo caption: In the first picture, Hon’ble Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment Shri Thawarchand Gehlot alongwith Shri A.K. Gupta – General Manager of W.Rly& Shri R.N. Sunkar – Divisional Railway Manager of Ratlam Division can be seen planting a sapling at Ratlam station. In the second picture, Shri Gupta can be seen giving a cloth bag to an elderly person at Bandra Terminus station and in the third picture, a nukkadnatak is shown being carried out at Churchgate station to create awareness against Single Use Plastic. In the second row, the first & second picture show the various shramdaan activities which were carried out at Virar and Udhna stations. In the last picture, Shri Shailendra Kumar – Principal Chief Operations Manager of Western Railway can be seen distributing cloth bags to passengers at Mumbai Central station.
The second day of “Swachhta Hi Sewa” Pakhwada focused on creating awareness against elimination of Single Use Plastic and to adopt more eco-friendly ways other than plastic. To commemorate the ‘Swachh Samwad’ theme on the second day of “Swachhta Hi Sewa” Pakhwada on 17thSeptember, 2019, Shri A.K. Gupta – General Manager of Western Railway interacted with various passengers at Bandra Terminus station and conveyed them the message about the importance of cleanliness. He also held ‘Samwad’ with various railway staff and at the Concourse Hall of Bandra Terminus station. General Manager Shri Gupta distributed cloth bags to various passengers and appealed them to avoid use of plastic. Shri Gupta also planted a sapling at vacant land in the station premise of Bandra Terminus. on this occasion he also, inspected various areas of this station including Coach Care Centre. More than 300 cloth bags were distributed at Bandra Terminus station to various passengers by Western Railway to eliminate the use of Single Use Plastic.
According to a press release issued by Shri Ravinder Bhakar – Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, on this occasion General Manager Shri Gupta discussed various aspects of cleanliness drive with Shri V.K. Tripathi – Additional General Manager, Shri Ashesh Agarwal – Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer and Shri Sunil Kumar – Divisional Railway Manager of Mumbai Central Division along with other senior railway officers. The massive shramdaan over Mumbai Suburban stationswas led by PHODs alongwith their respective HODs, i.e., Shri Rajkumar Lal – Principal Chief Commercial Manager at Churchgate station, Shri Sanjay Suri – Principal Chief Personnel Officer at Marine Lines station, Smt. Uma Ranade – Principal Finance Advisor at Charni Road station, Shri Aditya Kumar – Principal Chief Signal & Telecommunication Engineer at Grant Road station, Shri Shailendra Kumar – Principal Chief Operations Manager at Mumbai Central station, Shri J.P. Pandey – Principal Chief Materials Manager at Mahalaxmi station, Shri R.K. Meena – Principal Chief Engineerat Dadar station, Shri Ashesh Agrawal – Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer at Bandra station, Shri U.S.S. Yadav – Chief Administrative Officer (Construction) at Andheri station, Shri Sanjiv Bhutani – Principal Chief Electrical Engineer at Borivali station, Shri Vilas Gunda – Principal Chief Medical Director at Vasai Road station and Shri Naresh Lalwani – Chief Safety Officer at Virar. It is worth mentioning that more than 1 lakh railway employees and officers came together to partake in the shramdaan activity all over Western Railwayalong with 100NGOs and Employees Unions.
On the second day, seminars on sanitation and upkeep of railway stations were organized by involving NGOs, Charitable institutions, Scouts & Guides, unions and railway employees to undertake cleanliness drives on their nearest railway stations.In Mumbai Division, a massive shramdaan was organised at EMU Workshop in Mahalaxmi, Shunting area. About 400 officers, supervisors and staff participated in the drive to collect plastic waste. During this event the Workshop collected & segregated 70 Kg of plastics from the Shunting area.Staff were also made aware about the bad effects of Single Use Plastic on health and ecosystem. Recently, a workshop on “Plastic Waste Management’ was also conducted at Mahalaxmi Workshop in association with M/S Bisleri International Pvt.Ltdunder the initiative ‘Bottles for Change’.Mahalaxmi Workshop has already achieved zero scrap mission and is the first Workshop over Indian Railways to achieve this feat. Massive Shramdaan activities were carried out by senior officers, supervisors and staff at Churchgate, Marine Lines, Charni Road, Mumbai Central, Dadar, Andheri, Borivali Virar, Palghar, Valsad and Udhna stations in association with NGOs, Rescue Organization, Brahma Kumaris, Manav Foundation and Om Prakash Foundation. NukkadNatak were organised at Churchgate and Dadar stations to create awareness against use of Single Use Plastic and its menace. Cloth and jute bags were also distributed among passengers to encourage eco-friendly options other than plastic bags.
Shri Bhakar stated that in Ratlam Division, massive plantation was carried out by Hon’ble Minister Social Justice & Empowerment Shri Thawarchand Gehlot along with Shri A.K. Gupta – General Manager of Western Railway, Shri R.N. Sunkar – Divisional Railway Manager of Ratlam Division and many senior officers of Western Railway. In Rajkot Division, a massive awareness campaign and shramdaan was carried out by the Shri P.B. Ninawe - Divisional Railway Manager of Rajkot, branch officers and staff at DRM office, Railway Colonies, Railway Cricket Stadium and at Rajkot station motivating public and railway staff not to use plastic. Those found using plastic polythene were given eco friendly bags. Pamphlets were also distributed emphasizing 'Say No to Plastic '. Other than this, the RPF staff in the barrack was also counselled not to throw any plastic waste on the tracks.Similar counselling was done to the linen care staff also.RRC staff was also advised that every candidate coming for document verification should be told to take back plastic bottles and chips wrappers along with them.
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