Railway stations in Telugu states record poor show in Tirupati

Tirupati: After registering a top class performance in cleanliness drive by securing all India 3rd rank in 2018, the image of Tirupati Railway Station fell steeply to 70th position in Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat rankings 2019.

Tirupati station got a total of 838.54 points this year as against 964.96 in the previous year. The important pilgrim destination, has recorded a significant improvement in 2018 when compared to 2017th rank of 19. The ranking of South Central Railway also fell to four from two last year.

The rankings were released by the Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal in New Delhi. While in 2018 five stations from AP and Telangana – Tirupati, Vijayawada, Secunderabad, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam have secured places in top 10 rankings.

This time only Vijayawada has figured in the top 10 list with 7th place. Hyderabad has moved to 17, Secunderabad to 42 and Visakhapatnam to 84th place this year from last year's top 10.

Ministry of Railways conducts this cleanliness assessment drive by engaging Quality Council of India. This year it assessed the performance in 720 stations across the country. They take into consideration five aspects – Process Evaluation, Direct Observation, Citizen Feedback, Station Manager Interview and Green Railway Stations Scoring. The last aspect was included in the present ranking system which was not there earlier.

Tirupati has been performing well on all aspects and won several awards. During June 2019 it got Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) gold rating recognition for providing better amenities and services to the passengers. The station authorities were also taking steps to increase green cover as far as possible. It was equipped with LED lighting already and water recycling systems are in place.

With more than 90 trains plying through the station daily with an average footfall of 60,000 during normal days. The officials have been striving to maintain the station clean. More than 100 safai karmacharis have been working in three shifts. The station was going ahead in all aspects till now.

With the steep fall in ranking, the divisional railway officials are engaged in the process of introspection. The DRM Alok Tiwari said that the reasons for these disappointing results will be analysed and corrective measures will be taken to bounce back. Divisional Commercial Manager B Prasanth Kumar said that several new amenities were introduced in the station and have to take a serious look on the deficiencies to overcome them.