Railways bans single-use plastic at Patna Junction

PATNA: Railways has banned single-use plastic at Patna Junction and other major stations falling under Danapur division, East Central Railway (ECR) GM L C Trivedi announced at a function held under ‘Swachhta Hi Seva Programme’ on Wednesday.
According to ECR’s chief public relations officer (CPRO) Rajesh Kumar, the GM launched waste plastic management scheme at Patna Junction in the presence all senior railway officials, including Danapur DRM Ranjan Prakash Thakur.He also administered a pledge to railway employees and passengers present on the occasion to avoid single-use plastic at Patna Junction and other major stations of the division.
The CPRO said Trivedi, along with other senior railway officials, participated in ‘shramdaan’ on platform number 1 at Patna Junction. A group of railway artists staged a ‘nukkad natak’ based on the theme of ‘Use of plastic and its harmful effect in life’. The play drew maximum applause from the audience, he said.
According to divisional environment and housekeeping manager of Danapur, Ashok Kumar, railways has decided to install more bottle crushing machines at Patna Junction and other A1 and A category stations under the division. At present, Patna Junction has three functional bottle crushing machines while railways intends to install one such machine on each platform there, he said. All railway officials were in T-shirts made of waste plastic materials.
The CPRO said railways distributed jute bags bearing the logo of ‘Swachhta Hi Seva’ among passengers at Patna Junction. Besides, railways introduced use of earthen ‘kulhad’ at each vendor’s stall, replacing plastic cups for tea and coffee, he said.
According to sources, railways has decided to make newly airconditioned waiting hall, a pair of escalators and other passenger amenities at Patna Junction functional on September 14. Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is likely to inaugurate these facilities, sources said, adding the new airconditioned waiting hall has been built in the old ticket booking counter space on the western side of Patna Junction for at least 400 passengers.