Cleanliness has to be observed by every individual and organisation to ensure that the whole country remains clean. Contributing their effort in this the Southern Railway is observing a fortnight-long special Cleanliness Campaign ‘Swachhata Pakhwada’ from September 15 onwards.

The campaign was launched with R.N. Singh, General Manager, SR Zone administering Swachhata Pledge to officers and staff. The very next day, all the six Divisions of SR — Chennai, Salem, Madurai, Tiruchchirappalli, Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram – kicked off the drive.

Every day of the fortnight is dedicated to a theme and specific activities that will help to spread the message of Swachhata. These include clean stations, clean trains, clean water, clean food and clean tracks.

Besides this, extensive outreach campaigns effectively using digital media and public announcement systems are being regularly undertaken to educate rail commuters on the use of bio- toilets, litter-free stations, avoiding single-use plastics and other such cleanliness habits.

The first two days of the campaign witnessed a host of activities at the railway stations, field offices, workshops and other units across the zone. The participants included a large number of railway employees, conservancy staff, scouts and guides, students of schools and colleges, non-governmental organisations and volunteers.

The activities included a painting competition at SR headquarters in Chennai on the theme of cleanliness. With a view to counter pollution, at Kanniyakumari and Thiruvananthapuram railway stations large scale planting of saplings and display of anti-littering awareness posters were done.

Aiming to create awareness about swachhata a rally was organised and pamphlets were distributed to passengers at Guruvayur, Kochuveli, Thiruvananthapuram stations and EMU Car Shed, Velachery. Pamphlets were also distributed to onboard passengers at Palakkad Junction, Kozhikode, Mangaluru Central, Kannur and Guruvayur.

At Ernakulam Junction and Thiruvananthapuram Central shramdaan   was organised while at Kannur, Ottapalam and Tirur stations, a seminar on sanitation and upkeep of stations was held.

Thiruvananthapuram Central also held an exhibition on eco-friendly alternatives for plastics and a mime show by students.