W. RLY’S PLASTIC GARBA SONG BECOMES SUPERHIT

 “SWACHHTA HI SEWA” PAKHWADA CONCLUDED OVER

W. RLY WITH GREAT FERVOUR & ENTHUSIASM o­n THE OCCASION OF THE 150^TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF

MAHATMA GANDHI

Approx 109.38 tonnes of Plastic waste collected during the drive

Photo Caption: (Top row) In the first pic, Foreign tourist are seen posing for selfies with Plastic Hatela. In the second & third pic, students from schools & colleges around Ahmedabad are seen participating in various activities organized at the exhibition in Ahmedabad. (Bottom row) The first pic depicts the Nukkad Natak performed by the students of St. Xaviers College, Ahmedabad.In the second & third pic, Shri Saurabh Trivedi - Chief Security Commissioner of RPF, W. Rly conducting inspection of Toilets & Platform at Virar station

The Special cleanliness drive “Swachchta Hi Sewa” Pakhwada was observed from 16^th September, 2019 to 30^thSeptember, 2019 over Indian Railways with a view to ensure visible and tangible improvement in cleanliness at all its premises i.e. stations, trains, offices, colonies, workshops, maintenance depots, hospitals etc. with special emphasis to eradicate the use of plastics in railway premises was celebrated with great enthusiasm & fervour. A noteworthy mention is the release of the song titled “Plastic ko no Bolo” o­n the eve of Navratri festival which is sung to the melodious tune of garba sunedo. This song has picked up as fire with the revellers swooning to its vibrant tunes at Navrati mandal venues and also at pubs & discotheques. This song creates a perfect awareness to the public about Indian Railways decision to put a ban o­n single use plastics from 2^nd October, 2019. After the “Main Hoon Plastic Hatela” video, this video is also taking the social media and other platforms with a storm.

According to a press release issued by Shri Ravinder Bhakar – Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, W. Rly is committed to follow Gandhiji’s teachings o­n cleanliness and in this direction conducted a massive cleanliness drive across Western Railway to mark & commemorate the 150^th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The Swachhta Pakhwada commenced with “Swachch Awareness” Diwas and started with administering the Swachhta Pledge to all the active participants which included Ministerial staff, Departmental/contractual catering staff, Shoe shine boys, Sahayaks, Contractual housekeeping staff, Front line staff of UTS, PRS, Ticket Checking, Other Station staff. To mark the ‘Swachh Samwad’ theme o­n the second day of “Swachhta Hi Sewa” Pakhwada, a “MASSIVE SHRAMDAN” was conducted o­n 17^th September, 2019 with main focus o­n “COLLECTION OF PLASTIC WASTE”. It is worth mentioning that more than 8563 railway officers and employees, their families along with 100 NGOs and Employees Unions, Corporate employees and all other stakeholders and self-help groups came together in the shramdaan activity. o­n 18^th September, 2019, Western Railway organized “Mahashramdaan” drives over all the six Divisions. Nukkad Nataks were also organized to spread awareness about the importance of cleanliness and the menace of Single-Use Plastic. More than 3600 Cloth bags were distributed o­n WR to meet the twin objective of awareness regarding banning of plastic and further use of environment friendly bags instead of single use of plastic.Approx 109.38 tonnes of Plastic waste were collected at stations during the cleanliness drive.Amidst the celebrations of “Swachhta Hi Sewa” Pakhwada, o­n the occasion of Swachh Station Western Railway released a Hindi short film o­n its social media platforms creating awareness against ‘Single-Use Plastic’ titled “Main Hoon Plastic Hatela” which has now become viral and is receiving accolades from all sources.This viral video has received many ‘likes’ over Western Railway’s social media handles and its popularity is increasing day by day. This 1 minute 41 seconds long interesting short film has received appreciation from Indian Railway’s Twitter handle as well and has been shared by Hon’ble Minister of Railway - Shri Piyush Goyal o­n his social media handles with the caption- ‘Less Plastic is Fantastic’ and appreciated Western Railway’s unique way of spreading awareness.Under the ‘Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat’ initiative, W. Rly has added another feather to its cap by installing a Plastic Bottle Crushing Machine in a train’s coach for the first time over Indian Railways. This PET bottle crushing machine has been installed in the Pantry Car of Mumbai New Delhi Rajdhani Express and has the capacity to crush 3,000 PET bottles in a day. The 6th day of “Swachhta Hi Sewa” Pakhwada was observed as “Swachch Railgadi” day in which intensive inspection of identified special trains were done by teams of officers, supervisors and staff in all OBHS trains. Feedback of passengers were taken and award was given to OBHS staff for maintaining cleanliness in trains. Do/Don’ts posters regarding cleanliness and anti littering were ensured in coaches wherever not available.Under the theme Swachht Prasadhan observed o­n 28.09.2019, total 2309 Toilets were inspected at stations and intensive cleaning of 1301 Toilets were undertaken and 376 deficiencies were rectified. During the Swachhta Pakhwada from 16.09.19 - 30.09.2019, total 3926 passengers have been fined and Rs. 7,59,780 was realized for anti littering under the section 198 of RailwaysAct. 1264 dustbins for Wet and Dry waste under donation was received from NGOs, Self Help Groups, Local associations etc. Tree plantation was undertaken at 51 stations over entire W. Rly and 15831 trees were planted during the Pakhwada. 4535 posters, banners for awareness o­n cleanliness, plastic ban were displayed at prominent passenger interface area at stations. Regular announcements and display of civic messages against use of single use plastic and keeping station premises clean were also organised. Audio / video clips o­n ‘Swachhta Hi Sewa’ was played at 274 Digital screens at major stations and all stations over Western Railway. Swachhta Messages paper scales, Swachhta messages wrist bands, paper caps, Dustbin shaped pamphlets etc. were distributed to all participants at the Shramdaan – and cleanliness drive activity. Also pamphlets with “No Plastic” message and caps were distributed to Passenger and Rail Staff. Selfie points for encouraging plastic ban were installed at 28 stations i.e Churchgate, Mumbai Central, Bandra, Borivali, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad, Gandhidham, Viramgam, Mehsana, Palanpur, Bhuj, Indore, Ratlam, Ujjain, Chittorgarh, Nagda, Surendranagar, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Bhavnagar Terminus, Bhavnaagr Para, Songadh, Veraval, Somnath, Gondal, Botad, Palitana and Porbandar. Nukkad Natak was organised at all major stations for creating awareness among Rail users o­n “Swachhta Hi Sewa” and discouraging single use plastic. Western Railway organized an exhibition at Ahmedabad railway station to highlight the need for maintaining cleanliness in railway surroundings and also to inform the public about the ban o­n the use of single use plastics over Indian Railways. This two day exhibition was held at the concourse hall of Ahmedabad railway station o­n 29th & 30th September, 2019. The exhibition portrays the various facets of green initiatives undertaken by Western Railway to promote a cleaner and greener environment. Live models of a bio- toilet & bottle crushing machine and Bio-degradable crockery meant to replace harmful & toxic plastic crockery were o­n display. The stall received good response from both children and adults alike, visiting the exhibition and has received various positive feedbacks and thumbs up from the viewers in the visitor’s book. o­n the concluding day of the Pakhwada, the Divisional Railway Managers of Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Rajkot & Ratlam Divisions convened Press conferenceS and briefed the media about various activities conducted over their Divisions in the past fortnight under the Swachhta Pakhwada.

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