Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet project making railway cleanliness drive work

The massive 'shramdaan' initiative to clean up railway stations on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on October 2 might be at best symbolic, but officials on the ground are saying the effects of finding oneself on the wrong side of the Prime Minister's pet project is making the plan work.

dna on Tuesday was witness to several such efforts with station managers at various stations already charting out the work to be done, so that they don't find themselves in the dock. The upside, these managers said, is that long-pending demands for fences, dustbins, cleaning staff and equipment are being sanctioned without the usual delay by the authorities.

Several of them are 'watsapping' videos of the problem areas of their stations to the superior officials for quick remedy. "This time the work is getting done for real. 'Imprest' money (a small fund that can be spent for miscellaneous expenditure at stations) is being replenished quickly and we are being delegated powers to buy things and make arrangements for the cleanliness drive," said a station manager from one of the Harbour line stations. In fact, some 247 smaller stations on CR have been given an additional imprest money of Rs2,000 just for this cleanliness drive.

Even construction contractors and catering stall owners who have worked with railway departments for a long time are making the rounds of stations to find out if there is any quick-fix job that they could help with. Railway Protection Force personnel mostly loathe to get into such 'non-policing' activities, and ticket-checkers have also been given strict instructions to contribute their bit. "The new rule allowing ticket-checkers to fine Rs500 for littering is going to be used extensively in the coming days," said an official.

Explaining the situation, a senior railway official said, "It is a huge PR exercise for the government, especially since it is a pet project of the Prime Minister. The monitoring of the project is being done at the PMO and there will be a cascading effect if any department falls short."

The officials said that with the top officials being given direct responsibility, like the general manager for a zone and the divisional railway manager for a division, there are people to pull up in case something goes wrong.

"So, expecting a station manager or even junior administrative grade officer to escape the trickle-down punishment in case the DRM or GM is pulled up is impossible. That is making these scheme work so far," said the official.