The Divisional Railway Manager of Howrah Division, Sanjeev Kumar conducted a surprise inspection at various locations within Howrah Station today directing to set up a centralised kitchen for licensed railway porters.
The DRM’s inspection emphasising on cleanliness included places like the Railway Licensed Porter’s (Lal Coolie) rest room for assessing their condition. He also checked whether any unauthorised person was staying there by scrutinizing the badges issued by railway to the porters.
According to the Eastern Railway, upset with the standard of cleanliness, he directed immediate cleaning of the rooms and surrounding areas, including toilets, suggesting establishment of a centralized kitchen from the present system of cooking food in the rooms of the porters itself.
After shifting the cooking space to a separate room, he also asked for a fresh coat of whitewash to improve the overall appearance of all rest rooms. Continuing the inspection, he went to see the Pay and Use toilets on platform number one and near the booking office to check complaints about excess charging to the passengers and cleanliness standards.
While engaging with passengers and in response to identified negligence by one agency, a heavy fine was imposed with a strict warning to uphold the required standards. Later, Mr Kumar also inspected food kiosks on platforms three and four in the circulation area. On finding the use of the platforms beyond the kiosk area, he instructed to impose fines on almost all the vendors.