One broken window is all it takes for disorder to settle in

In a 1982 Atlantic Monthly article titled Broken Windows, James Q. Wilson and George Kelling argued that disorder in a community, if left uncorrected, undercuts residents' own efforts to maintain their homes and neighbourhoods and control unruly behavior. "If a window in a building is broken and left unrepaired," they wrote, "all the rest of the windows will soon be broken... One unrepaired window is a signal that no one cares, so breaking more windows costs nothing... Untended property becomes fair game for people out for fun or plunder."
The term 'Broken Window Syndrome' came out of an experiment conducted in Palo Alto, in which the researchers put a car on the street. At first, it was in good shape, nothing happened to it. But after they broke a window and later removed a tire, vandals soon swarmed around the vehicle and dismantled it.
The above (examples) seem very relevant to a social problem of unmatched severity faced by Mumbai Division of Western Railway in locals and on platforms and tracks — filth and squalor and unbearable stench, the kind of which make our heads hang in shame!
Tolerance of these activities gives a sense of security to future criminals that 'All is Well' for them to cross the Rubicon and do something wrong, and that they would not be caught or pursued, much less prosecuted. Thus, we find stations and railway premises becoming a hotbed of filth and squalor, and hunting ground for junkies and drug peddlers. The moment we decide enough is enough and start prosecuting each and every minor infraction, we are bound to see positive result.

A few suggestions
Cleaning of suburban stations should be done at nights, between 11pm and 5am.
Cleaning should be location-specific rather than act-specific. For example, there should be only one tender for the entire station, including tracks, drainage and platforms, so that there is pinpointed responsibility and no buck passing.
For cleaning non-suburban stations, a traffic density chart should be worked out and incorporated in the tender so that cleaning activity can be undertaken during lean period of traffic.
The number of cleaners deployed by contractors should be regularly announced over the PA system so that the public is aware how many are supposed to be engaged in the work and, in case of an anomaly, can bring it to the authorities' attention. All cleaning personnel should wear distinctive uniform.
Labourers' attendance should be verified by the biometric system and all of them should be required to swipe their fingers every two hours to ensure they are being utilised at the area for which they were hired.

SC Mitra, deputy financial adviser, Western Railway