Mumbai
Around 125 students aged between 19 and 22 years participated in sprucing up the station, and even donated dustbins and cleaning equipment to the station staff.
Updated : Jan 28, 2015, 07:30 AM IST
Chembur railway station is the latest addition to the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan, as the students of Vivekanand Education Society's Institute of Technology, in collaboration with Vedanta Welfare Foundation (VWF), adopted it on January 26. The drive began at noon with the cleaning of the station, entry and exit points, ticket counters, rooftops, and ended at 3pm.
Around 125 students aged between 19 and 22 years participated in sprucing up the station, and even donated dustbins and cleaning equipment to the station staff.
The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team of the college wanted to take up the task in November last year, but couldn't do so without permission.
About the work done by fellow students, 21-year-old Ajinkya Padwad, the secretary of the CSR team said: "Since Republic Day was a holiday, we could complete our work in peace. We painted the walls, and put up stickers and banners urging people not to litter. We also asked the shopkeepers to not throw garbage."
The third year electronics engineering student added: "This initiative is one of the many activities we will be doing during the year. We will visit the station once every two to three weeks."
S Ravindranath, founder of Vedant Welfare Foundation said that cleanliness was their priority, but there are other areas of the station that they will also concentrate on in the coming days. "We want to improve the on-call facilities, ambulance services and sanitation as one of bathrooms is shut. Also, improve the functioning of the pantry, which has been non-functional for more than 8 months."
He said that the students raised Rs25,000 for the adoption and clean-up, adding: "The weighing machines and water coolers are also not functioning, and need to be repaired."
The event was graced by sr deputy operation manager of central railways, KN Singh, and principal of the college, Dr (Mrs) JM Nair.
Singh said that Kings Circle station was one of the first CR stations to be taken up for a similar initiative. "Local citizens have approached us to contribute towards cleanliness. Such initiatives bring awareness and are good for the railways," he said.
Singh did not respond to queries about why the toilets and pantry have not been functioning.