Railways create separate wing for environment management to conserve water and energy

Going ahead with the mission to conserve water and energy, the railways have constituted a separate directorate to make the national transporter environment-friendly.

Environment Management Directorate, the new wing of the Railways, will be responsible for ensuring effective utilisation of water resources, said a senior Railway Ministry official. The new directorate will also be conducting water and energy audits and deal with all matters related to environment management, he said.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu is keen to promote environment-friendly activities like maximum use of green fuel such as solar and wind energy in the public transporter. The Environment Directorate will be headed by an Advisor- rank official in the railways. There will be six Executive Directors (ED) from Mechanical, Electrical, Traffic Commercial, Land and Amenities, Finance and General Departments in the new directorate.

However, the official said all these six EDs will discharge duties connected with THE Environment Management Directorate in addition to their normal assigned responsibilities. The Ministry also plans to promote plantation of fruit- bearing trees on railway land and prepare a strategy for water conservation in a big way.

Currently, the railways have about two dozens directorates and the number has gone up by one more with this new addition. Prabhu has undertaken many new initiatives to mark a change in the ailing national transporter, including giving zonal railways power to decide on tendering.